


Cinders and Cat Toys

by Ninke_A, quiiiznak



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Firefighters, Alternate Universe - Pet Store, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining Lance (Voltron), Slow Burn, background Sheith - Freeform, background thulaz, kolivance - Freeform, pining kolivan (voltron), platonic klance - they're best friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 19:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12087906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninke_A/pseuds/Ninke_A, https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiiiznak/pseuds/quiiiznak
Summary: As a Firefighter, Kolivan had gotten used to coming home to an empty apartment - it was simply a drawback of the job. His teammates, however disagree and encourage him to at least get a pet.The cute guy at the pet store however, may open up more opportunities for company than Kolivan thought...





	Cinders and Cat Toys

**Author's Note:**

> This has become such a labor of love and it's bittersweet that we're finally done - we're so excited for you's to read it and we hope you all enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> Come talk to us on tumblr! [quiiiznak](https://quiiiznak.tumblr.com) [collector-of-hats](https://collector-of-hats.tumblr.com)

Kolivan sighed and rubbed his hands across his temples as the truck pulled into the firehouse. 

 

It had been another long day in the already long week - this morning, there had been a four-alarm fire at a skyscraper downtown; the newly-built luxury apartment complex had gone up in flames due to a wiring issue in the electrical panel located in the sub basement. Thankfully, no one had been inside at the time except for the electrical engineer working on the panel, but he had been safely removed from the scene before the fire had escalated. 

 

It had been a crazy day from start to finish. They had received the call around 9:38 in the morning; Kolivan had barely had the time to clock in before the alarms had started to ring - it had prompted a crazy rush to get dressed in their gear and to grab all of their equipment. Thankfully, they had been the first to arrive on the scene, and the first to secure the area with the help of the local police department. He shook his head, if it hadn't been for Officer Shirogane and the rest of the Altea Police Department there definitely could've been casualties; they had set up a perimeter within minutes of arriving and pushed back the crowd of worried onlookers.  _ You would think by now that people would have learned to run away from burning buildings instead of towards them _ , Kolivan mused. 

 

Thace and Antok had been sent in first to secure the sub basement - where they had found the electrical engineer unconscious on the floor, most likely due to smoke inhalation. They worked quickly to remove him from the scene and had been lucky to exit the building before the floors above had become engulfed in flames. From there though, the day had devolved into chaos; the fire quickly having reached four-alarms had prompted the call of three more engine companies, two ladder companies, and the battalion chief. 

 

The stress of the week felt almost like a perceptible weight on his shoulders - almost as heavy as his equipment - and it didn’t help that the only thing waiting for Kolivan at his meager apartment was half a case of almost-expired beer and some dust bunnies that had crawled out from underneath the ratty couch. He let his thoughts get the best of him -  _ they had barely saved the building; had they been quicker, maybe they could’ve -- _

 

“Oof.” 

 

He was pulled out of his melancholic musings by the weight of a hand on his shoulder. It’s Ulaz; Ulaz, who’s got this sad smile on his face almost as if he can sense the sadness looming over his friend’s shoulders. Kolivan straightened his back and rolled his shoulders,  _ there’s nothing any of them can do now.  _ He thought to himself, _ They cleared the scene without any fatalities and honestly? It’s no one’s fault but his own that he had to return to an empty apartment. Maybe he should entertain the idea of dating again?  _ He sighed.  _ Ah, best not to go down that road of potential heartbreak. _

 

Kolivan shook his head as he watched everyone remove their gear and place it in their respective lockers. He allowed himself a small grin as he took in the easy camaraderie of his fellow firefighters; Antok who, despite his large frame, bounced around like an overgrown child - still riding the adrenaline high from the day’s activities; Thace and Ulaz who had quickly retreated to the kitchen where they were side-by-side, as close as they could get to each other without crawling into each others skin. 

 

After all his equipment was properly stored away, Kolivan made his way into the station’s living room where everyone else had congregated as well. He made himself comfortable as Thace handed out bowls of soup. This had become somewhat of a tradition for them - after a major call, they would all seem to congregate together to just decompress, and to solidify the fact that they had all survived the day’s events. It was nice, especially after the hellish day they had all had. Kolivan groaned as he looked at the clock - 10:45 pm - another exhausting day.

 

He had tuned out the conversation for the most part - just happy to be surrounded by his friends, his family if he was honest with himself, and content to sip at his bowl of warm soup. The warmth of the broth helping to ground him in his surroundings.  

 

“-livan! Kolivan!”

 

Kolivan shook his head as he turned to face Ulaz.  _ Actually _ , he looked around, everyone else had stopped in their conversations to watch him too.  _ Of course _ , he sighed to himself.

 

It was Antok that spoke up next, “Is something the matter?”

 

He didn’t want to worry everyone with his tendency to overthink a call like today’s, and his thoughts of his empty apartment. He reluctantly settled on the truth though, only for the simple fact that they all knew him too well for him to be thinking of anything other than the day’s events. “Just… thinking of things that could’ve been done differently, is all.”

 

Everyone let out a collective sigh.

 

Antok nudged him from where he sat on the couch next to him, thigh brushing against his own. “C’mon, man. You know we did everything perfect and by the book. There wasn’t anything that we could’ve done differently. And besides,” Antok chuckled, “Technically the building wasn’t even finished, so it’s not like it was a total waste. So, it takes them a few more months to rebuild all the burnt bits; No big deal. Not Like that company doesn't have the excess money anyway.” He shrugged a shoulder, “You need to loosen up, and relax; all this stress isn’t good for you.”

 

Ulaz hummed his assent from the other couch across the room. 

 

Thace picked his head up from where it had fallen on Ulaz’s shoulder. “You know,” he started, “It wouldn’t kill you to go out once in awhile to a bar or something. Who knows? You might actually meet someone.”

 

Kolivan groaned as he sunk into the couch. “Not this again…”

 

“Yes, this again,” Ulaz spoke up. “We can all see how lonely you are. If you aren’t here working, then you are home alone in your apartment, doing God knows what. It wouldn’t hurt for you to be around another person - besides us.” Ulaz shot Kolivan a look to effectively shut him up. 

 

“You know I don't have the time for a relationship right now.” He shot Thace and Ulaz an exasperated look. “Not everyone can be as lucky as you two, you know.”

 

“It's not the fact that we're  _ lucky _ , per say. It's just -- we put ourselves out there and happened to gravitate towards each other.” He shrugged, “You can't base every relationship off of ours, Kolivan. Just -- if it's meant to work, then it'll work; you can't force things like these. But, you have to at least be willing to put yourself out there, you never know what might happen.” Thace smiled as he finished. 

 

Kolivan shifted on the cushions, unhappy with all the attention, “How come you never bug Antok about being single? Hmm?”

 

“Simple!” Antok swiveled around to face him, “because I’m not miserable like you --”

 

“Hey!”

 

“It’s the truth! And because I don’t go back to an empty apartment like you do --”

 

“Since when are you seeing someone? This is news to me…”

 

Antok chuckled. “Oh, I’m not seeing anyone.” He pulled his phone out and shoved it in Kolivan’s face; on the screen was a picture of a golden retriever puppy. “-- Brynn! She’s my pride and joy!” 

 

“Cute…”

 

“Aww, c’mon Kolivan! Don’t be like that! You know she’s cute, no need to be a stick in the mud.” Antok grumbled.

 

“Actually --” 

 

Kolivan turned to face Thace.

 

“That actually sounds like a good idea.” He tapped his chin. “You’ve been so adamant on your refusal to start dating again that maybe a pet wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Just think -- you would have something that relied on you for care and affection, without the risk of your affections not being returned. And,” Thace continued, “you would no longer be returning to an empty apartment. Also, you can’t use the excuse of not having the proper time to care for a pet because if Antok is able to juggle his time accordingly, then so can you.”

 

Kolivan grumbled. “If it would finally get you all off my back about not dating then I guess it wouldn’t hurt to at least look. BUT and this is a big but, I’m not making any promises. Besides, where would I even go to find a pet?”

 

Ulaz smiled as he pushed himself straighter on the couch; Thace mumbled something as he was jostled. “Actually, I have just the place! It’s this cute little pet shop downtown - not too pricey, but I’ve heard the staff was pretty knowledgeable.”

 

Kolivan was weary of the smile on his friend’s face, but he was loathe to go back on his promise, even as minor as this one was. Ulaz fished out a scrap of paper and a pen from his pocket to scribble the name and address of the pet shop. As he was doing that, Antok had pushed himself up off the couch to collect their empty bowls and walked over to the kitchen to begin his cleaning duties for the evening. 

 

“Here,” Ulaz leaned over to pass him the paper. “Trust me, you’re gonna love this place.” He smiled, “And! You’ve got the day off tomorrow so it’s perfect timing.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Just don’t go getting your hopes up about anything.” 

 

So with the slip of paper in his pocket and a slight headache, Kolivan bid them all goodnight and made his way out to his pickup truck - more than ready for the day to be done with. With a final sigh, he put the car in reverse to back out of his parking spot, and made the short drive home where he forwent the beer in his fridge to collapse face first onto his mattress with a groan. 

 

* * *

 

The shop was small but filled with the sounds of barking, and chirping. There were racks filled with toys and pet supplies, while a display case filled with puppies was right next to the front window. Honestly, no matter how much Ulaz had enthused about this shop, Kolivan was very uncomfortable. He found himself standing in the center of the shop, looking at the various animals and already planning his excuse for when he was bombarded with questions at work tomorrow. 

 

“Excuse me, do you need some help?” 

 

He turned his head and was assaulted with brilliant blue eyes and a wide, cheerful smile. The attendant had a gray long-sleeved shirt, and black pants along with a white apron. His nametag was crooked and had the name  _ Lance _ along with a little ribbon announcing him as a cat owner. 

 

“Ah… yes… I was looking for a pet…” Kolivan cleared his throat, and straightened his shoulders. “I’m a fireman, with a hectic schedule so I will need something that is very easy to care for and that can be left alone for long periods.” 

 

Lance blinked, then looked toward the register where another boy was ringing up another customer, then back at Kolivan. “Okay… well…” A smile appeared on his face again. “A dog would need to be walked, especially a young dog, which is the only kind we carry. Birds are a little high maintenance for a first time pet owner… so I would suggest either a cat, hamster or a fish.”

 

Lance paused, then studied Kolivan, even went so far as to give him a once over, before nodding decisively. “A fish. Here, they are in this other room. Keith! I’m in the fish room with a customer!” 

 

“Yeah, yeah.” The other man didn’t even look up as Lance lead Kolivan into a smaller room. 

 

This room was filled with large tanks, some holding what appeared to be hundreds of fish, and some with only a couple. The tanks had brightly colored rocks lining the bottoms, plants and objects in each tank. Honestly, Kolivan actually liked the cheer that the bright colors brought, and he thought that maybe that cheer was just what he was missing. 

 

Turning back to Lance, he found the man, watching a group of fish that were in one of the tanks. “Which one do you recommend?” 

 

***

 

Kolivan spent almost an hour in the pet shop, listening intently as Lance explained everything he would need to know about fish. Originally he had intended to only get one fish, but Lance had explained that like people, fish survived better in groups. So he ended up with half a dozen little fish, with bright colors, and little fan-like tails. It took some time to set up the new tank, but he followed Lance’s directions carefully. Eventually, he settled in his chair, and watched them swim about. He couldn’t help but smile at bit. 

 

The first couple of days were fine, Kolivan fed the fish as he had been instructed and started to enjoy the light from the tank when he would come home from work. 

 

Then he had four long days, with four individual fires, all of which he and his crew suspected had been due to arson. Kolivan barely had the time to do more than catch some quick naps at the station, and when he finally returned home, he found four of his six fish dead, and one of them swimming at a strange angle. Despite the food he immediately gave them, by morning all the fish were dead. 

 

***

 

Ulaz shook his head, a smile on his face. “I can’t believe you killed the fish. Fish! Kolivan those are some of the easiest pets out there!”

 

Thace had the nerve to laugh from his place behind Ulaz, while Antok looked like was silently judging him - which, in all honesty, he most likely was.

 

“Actually,” Kolivan tried to defend himself, “they’re one of the more finicky pets; they need almost constant and consistent feedings.” He raised his arms, “You all have seen the past week we’ve had! We - I’ve - barely had the chance to go home!What was I supposed to do? Drag around a ten gallon fish tank?” He took a breath, “Look. I told you all that this was a bad idea from the start. So… can we just drop this whole pet thing?”

 

Antok stepped forward, “Maybe we just haven’t found the right pet for you yet? I’m not happy that those poor fish had to die because of inadequate care, but still. It wasn’t fair of us to get mad or laugh at you.” He glared at Thace. “Maybe you just need something a little more hardy? You were absolutely right, those fish were too fragile for you to have - especially, like you said, with the week we’ve had. We can’t exactly plan for things like that, but--” He put his finger up and pointed at Kolivan. “If you’re going to look for a different type of pet, then maybe you could ask one of your neighbors to pop in your apartment from time to time to check on them for you.”

 

Kolivan sighed.  _ So much for being off the hook _ . “Fine.”

 

***

 

Kolivan entered the shop with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Having Thace make jokes about Kolivan’s fish… incident every single time that Ulaz and Antok were out of earshot was bad enough, but now he had to tell the guy that had sold him the fish that he had killed them. 

 

“Oh, hi again!” The same guy as the time before, came in from the back, a bird perched on one shoulder. The bird was bright green and chirped several times before pulling on a bit of the guy’s hair. 

 

“Ah… yes… Well…”

 

“Just a second, alright? Let me put Eva here away.” Lance crossed the room and coaxed the bird off his shoulder and back into the cage for he turned to Kolivan with a wide smile. “So, how can I help you, today?”

 

The uneasy feeling grew and Kolivan had to stifle the urge to actually squirm at those warm blue eyes. “Well, you see there was an incident… and unfortunately, the fish died.” Inwardly, he winced. He sounded so cold, but he honestly hadn’t wanted a pet in the first place. Damn his friends. All three of them. 

 

“Yeah, that happens. That’s actually why we suggest fish to first time pet owners. It’s sad, but these things do tend to happen. One time, I had a girl that got basically the same setup you did, and her dad accidentally misstepped and fell through the ceiling from the attic and dropped all kinds of insulation into her new tank. All the fish died. So don’t feel too bad about it. Fish don’t live very long anyway.” Lance smiled and patted Kolivan on the back, before looking around the shop. 

 

Honestly, he was shocked. He expected the same kind of teasing he had gotten from Thace, but this guy, another peek at the nametag as a reminder, Lance seemed to take it in stride. His story actually helped Kolivan feel better about it, and he too, looked around to see if any of the pets could catch his eye. 

 

“I confess, that I do not believe that fish are the most… ideal pet. Perhaps I should try something else…” 

 

Lance paused, looking over his shoulder. “Are you sure? I mean you already have everything you need for fish… My boss would be mad to hear me say this, but I’d hate to see you buy all new things when new fish are much cheaper.”

 

That was… Kind of him. But, there was nothing this man could say, no matter how cute he was that could convince Kolivan to buy more fish. “I am certain. I wish to try something that… will not die if I am unable to check in on it every day.” 

 

One hand came up and tapped at a chin, Lance looking thoughtful. “Well, I suppose you could always donate the tank… or give it to a friend… Alright, lets see… ”

 

“Wait a moment. Give it to a friend… hmmm, that’s actually a very good idea.” Normally Kolivan took the teasing he earned stoically, but Thace had been extra annoying today. Let’s see him do any better. “Might you be willing to help me get a… bit of revenge on a friend of mine?” He explained about how Ulaz had said fish were easy and how Thace had teased him all day. 

 

Lance immediately grinned. “You know… I think if we pick some of the harder fish to take care of, that might just make them leave you alone about it. I’ll grab them before you leave. But, for you… how about a hamster? They have a bowl of food, and they will hide it all over their cages so you won’t have to worry about feeding it every day, but you should check the food at least every other day, and they have a water bottle so they should be alright. Plus, their cages can get pretty interesting with all the tubes and things for them to play with and run through. I have to say though that their cages will need cleaned at least once a week. New bedding and to rinse out the bowl and water bottle.”

 

He thought about it. The pet being able to eat on it’s own would be good, and cleaning the cage once a week, Kolivan could handle that. He was off on Mondays anyway, well, unless an emergency happened. “That does sound like a better fit.” 

 

Lance helped Kolivan pick out a little black and white hamster. It was tiny, and honestly Kolivan was terrified to actually handle it due to it’s size, but Lance took his time explaining just how to treat it. He purchased everything Lance suggested, and agreed to wait on a larger set up until he was more comfortable with his new pet. 

 

As Lance stepped into the fish room to choose Ulaz and Thace’s new fish, Kolivan pulled out his phone and dialed the one person he could always count on to help with a prank. Antok. 

 

The phone rang a few times before Antok picked up. “Hello?”

 

“Antok, I was wondering if you had a bit of time tonight?”

 

Antok chuckled, “Yeah. Why? What did you have in mind?”

 

Kolivan absently watched Lance move around as he answered. “As you know, Ulaz and Thace were quite vocal on my failure to look after the fish. I felt that it was only fair to give them the same opportunity.”

 

“Oh? This could be good - got something planned, do ya?”

 

“Indeed. You see, I have this rather nice fish tank, and it would be a waste to leave it to gather dust. Therefore I think, that since Ulaz and Thace are working so late, that being the good friends we are, we should just deliver the tank for them. Complete with new fish for them to enjoy… You do still have their extra key, yes?” 

 

“Oh my god, this is too perfect,” Antok laughed, the sound tinny through his phone’s speaker. “Yeah, yeah. Of course I still have their keys. You want me to head over there now?”

 

“That sounds fine, I have to pick up the tank and this very helpful young man is picking out some of the more… challenging fish for their home. I should be there in about, fifteen minutes. I’ll treat you to lunch as thanks tomorrow.”

 

“Free lunch  _ and _ we get to mess with Thace and Ulaz? This is my lucky day! Oh man, I can’t wait to see their faces - it’s gonna be priceless.”

 

Kolivan said his goodbyes and hung up, waiting only a couple more moments before Lance appeared, with several very odd looking fish. Lance chatted with Kolivan about why these fish are so hard to care for, before worming a promise out of Kolivan to stop back in sometime and tell him how it went. 

 

With Antok’s help, they managed to get the tank moved into Thace and Ulaz’s place very easily, and both of them took care to do everything they could to ensure the fish were perfectly healthy when they left. If the fish died, it would be all on Thace and Ulaz. Honestly, Kolivan was looking forward to seeing their faces the next day. 

 

***

 

It was strange getting woken up by the soft sound of the hamster chewing on the bars of its cage. Lance had told him that they chewed a lot, so he wasn’t too worried about it, but it would take some getting used to. Apparently, hamsters were nocturnal, which was actually good since Kolivan was gone nearly all day anyway. He checked the food, surprised to see the most of his was stuck in little piles here and there, but dutifully added a bit more seed, and lightly rubbed the little animal before carefully closing and locking the cage before he left for work. He had to be early today, he didn’t want to miss a moment of Ulaz and Thace’s reaction.

 

He wasn’t disappointed.

 

When Kolivan got there, bright and early, they were already there - both sitting in the kitchen, nursing cups of coffee; it looked like neither of them had gotten much sleep the night before.

 

Kolivan chuckled; the noise drew both Thace and Ulaz’s attention. “Rough night?”

 

Thace glared at him, “You have no idea. Oh!  _ Thanks _ for the present by the way.”

 

“So you don’t like your new fish? It’s nothing that you can’t handle, right? Because fish are easy pets, remember?”

 

“Seriously!? I should -- !” 

 

Ulaz grabbed Thace’s forearm as stood, stopping him. “That’s enough. Look, we’re both exhausted.” He looked at Kolivan, “Honestly, we owe you an apology, we - especially Thace - hadn’t realized how tedious it is to take care of fish, particularly these fish; all of them seem to contradict each other in their needs. One needs light, while another needs total darkness; and one needs needs to eat algae to survive, while algae kills another. So, I’m sorry. We had no right to assume that you were incapable of caring for these animals.” He turned to Thace, “Is there anything you’d like to say?”

 

Thace grumbled something under his breath.

 

“I don’t think Kolivan was able to hear that.”

 

Thace sighed, “I said, sorry for making fun of your dead fish. Now, can you please take these ones back? We can’t handle them anymore - it’s only been one night but I’m exhausted.”

 

Kolivan smiled, “Thank you for the apology, but unfortunately, no -- ”

 

“What?!”

 

“Sorry, but those fish are your problems now. Maybe find a neighbor or a friend who might want them.”

 

Kolivan missed the look on both of their faces when he spun around to the go to the locker room.

  
  


Kolivan actually enjoyed the hamster. It’s a little small to really do anything with, but it’s entertaining to watch it run around it’s cage, and he’s gotten used to be woken up by the gentle scratching rather than his blaring alarm. 

 

Which is why, when he’s woken up by the loud  _ beep, beep, beep _ of his alarm - he’s confused. Kolivan pulls himself out of bed to walk over to the cage, only to find it empty.

 

“Shit.” 

 

One of the bars on the cage is slightly bent out. 

 

Kolivan sighed as ran a hand through his hair. “First the fish, and now the hamster. Ugh. I can’t seem to catch a break with these animals.”

 

He spent the next hour combing through his apartment, with no luck; the hamster was gone. With no other choice, he resigned himself to the fact that he horrible luck when it came to pets; Kolivan locked himself in the bathroom to get ready for the day.

 

***

 

And a long day it was. 

 

Of course everyone found out about his lost hamster. 

 

_ Of course _ .

 

After the day of teasing from his friends, Kolivan decided to go back the pet store.

 

After all, third time’s the charm, right?

 

***

 

“You lost the hamster?” Lance’s laugh echoed in the empty store, followed by the chirps of several of the birds. His laugh was bright and cheerful.

 

Kolivan scowled, but it was more a habit. Lance’s teasing felt different from when Thace and Antok did it. It felt, friendlier, less judging. It almost,  _ almost _ made Kolivan want to smile in return. Or, maybe it was the soft smile Lance had. “In all honesty, my neighbor approached me the next morning, explaining about how she had found a gift from her grandson. It just so happened that it is the exact same pet that I lost. I… confess that I did not have the heart to correct her and I ended up giving her the cage and the food I had for it.” Even Thace had agreed it was the right thing to do when Kolivan had told them about it earlier. Oh, they still teased him, but nowhere near as much as they had after the fish debacle. 

 

Lance smiled, softly, and reached out, patting Kolivan’s shoulder. “That is probably the kindest thing I have heard about all year. Good for you. Okay. I think that, since the fish are out, and the hamsters are too small for you really… there’s only one thing left for us to do.” 

 

“Which would be?” Kolivan considered the possibility that Lance was going to refuse to sell him any more animals, which, if Kolivan thought about it was… fair. He’d killed the fish in the first week and the hamster had escaped after only three days. Perhaps, Lance felt it would be irresponsible to allow him another pet.

 

But, Lance was smiling, not the wide one from only a moment ago, but something softer, more gentle. He motioned for Kolivan to follow him, and left him into one of their side rooms, this one seemingly dedicated to the care of cats. 

 

There were numerous kittens all vying for their attention but Lance ignored them all and headed straight for a little box that was tucked away in the corner. It had a cat, white with gray feet, tail and gray all over it’s face. The cat meowed, softly when Lance picked it up, and Kolivan, leaned a bit closer, looking at the smaller one that was still sleeping in the box. 

 

“This is Blue. She’s a Siamese, and my most perfect girl.” Lance’s fingers gently stroked over the cat, before a loud purr filled the air. “She got out of my apartment a while ago and ended up pregnant by the time I found her. I’ve managed to find homes for all the kittens except for that guy. So why don’t you give him a try? Go ahead, pick him up.” 

 

Wary, because this was not one of the many kittens in the cages but the animal actually belonged to Lance, so Kolivan mimicked Lance’s movements and lifted the kitten from the box. It was much larger than most of the ones in the cages, and looked almost exactly like his mother, except for the mask on his face. There was a patch of very dark fur running along his nose while the rest of the area was a lighter gray, his eyes were paler than his mother’s; her’s were a brilliant deep blue, while this kitten’s were more of an icy blue. 

 

“Are you certain that this kitten will not run away as the hamster did, or possibly die if I am called away?” Kolivan admitted, to himself only, that the soft fur was rather nice, and the purr meant he was at least petting the kitten right. 

 

“See, the thing with fish is, they’re pretty fragile - true, they don’t take a lot of upkeep, but missing even a day of feedings can be pretty disastrous. While hamsters can survive for a while, with the food in their dishes, they are masterful little escape artists, and since they are small, pretty hard to find and catch. But a cat,” Lance rubbed his cheek on Blue’s head, her purr getting louder. “A cat, like a hamster can generally take care of themselves, they bathe, and play and sleep perfectly fine if we are not there. If you get one of those automatic food and water dishes, then you can fill them with enough food and water to cover a week at a time. But, it’s also, nice to sit down after a long day and have them come to you for attention. There is the drawback of a litter box, and I don’t think you have a roommate to share those duties like I do…”

 

It was true, that Kolivan didn’t do well with the fish, and he had been worried to handle the hamster too much since it was so very small compared to his admittedly larger than average hands. The kitten was a comfortable weight, and he found his mouth twitching up in a smile at he batted at the end of Kolivan’s braid. “Ah… no. I do not, but given that I regularly shift through rubble as my job, I do believe I am up to the challenge.”

 

Lance laughed, eyes crinkled closed, like Kolivan’s poor attempt at humor was actually funny to him. As wonderful and annoying as his friends were, they rarely laughed at his jokes, save for Antok who occasionally found them funny. That was why Antok was probably his favorite. 

 

“However I do have a question. This kitten seems to be much larger than these others, is he older? From what little I know of animals they are harder to train the older they are.” He found that one arm was supporting the kitten easily, while his hand was absently petting the cat’s head.

 

“You are absolutely right.” Lance grinned again, his tone dropping slightly, almost coyly, before he was back to being professional. “But he’s maybe a week or so younger than these other cats we have here; old enough to leave Blue safely, but the vet told me that he’s half Maine Coon, so he’ll end up bigger than Blue here is.” Lance set Blue back into the box with a final pat, and the cat curled herself up in the soft blankets lining the box. 

 

“Are you certain that you wish for me to purchase this kitten from you? Despite my previous…  misfortunes with pets?”  Kolivan found himself hopeful. He liked this kitten far more than he had the hamster, which he had actually preferred over the fish. 

 

“I can’t think of anyone better to take care of him.” Lance winked, and turned, moving to collect the supplies that Kolivan would need and missing the slight blush that bloomed on his face from the wink. 

 

Kolivan opened his mouth, to say what he wasn’t sure, but the shop door chimed and a familiar voice called out. 

 

“Hello! Keith, Lance?” 

 

Lance paused, and a truly wicked smirk crossed his face. “In the cat room, Officer Shiro!” Turning to Kolivan, arms half filled with supplies he grinned. “Officer Shiro visits here often…” he chuckled before turning back to his collecting. 

 

“I don’t know how many times I’ve told you that just ‘Shiro’ was fine.” Shiro poked his head through the doorway. “Oh! Kolivan - I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” He stepped through to shake Kolivan’s hand.

 

“How’ve you been, Shiro?”

 

Shiro waved his hand, “Oh, you know - same old, same old.” He noticed the squirming kitten in Kolivan’s hands and Lance’s puttering around the shelves collecting items. “Oh! Didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll just leave you two to what you were doing.” He turned to leave. “Actually, Lance - I was looking for --”

 

“Keith.” Lance chuckled. “Of course you were. He’s in the back taking his break.” He gestured to the door behind the counter. “Just go ahead; he’s still got a few minutes left of his break.”

 

Shiro ran his hand through his hair, scratching slighty at the undercut; his face was only slightly pink at this point. “Yeah -- uhhh, I’ll just… go then.” He smiled at Kolivan and gestured at the kitten he was holding, “Good luck, man.”

 

After Shiro walked out of the cat room, Kolivan turned to Lance with a puzzled look on his face, “Is there any particular reason why you couldn’t assist him? It seems to me that you’re very efficient at your job; I wouldn’t mind waiting a few minutes.”

 

Lance burst out laughing, “Oh my god, no. It has nothing to do with how well I do my job.” He straightened up to brush a stray tear from his eye. He leaned closer to Kolivan to whisper, “Between you and me?”

 

Kolivan nodded.

 

“Shiro’s got  _ the _ biggest crush on Keith.” Lance adjusted his hold on Kolivan’s supplies and smiled up at him. “Keith has just as big of one on him too, but they’re both… oblivious.”  Lance started heading toward the register. 

 

Honestly, Kolivan was surprised, because the last time they had talked, Shiro’s views on dating had mirrored his own. But… He glanced over at Lance who was humming as he rang up the items, if this Keith was anything like Lance, well Kolivan could understand the sudden shift in opinion. 

 

***

 

Lance had refused to let Kolivan pay for the cat, stating that it was his cat, and he was free to do whatever he wanted with him, but he had also refused to let Kolivan leave before he named the kitten. In the end, Kolivan had chosen the name Blade, because the dark mark on the front of his face looked a bit like one. 

 

Getting Blade settled in his apartment was actually rather easy. He had put the kitten down, and set up the food and water dishes, made sure to fill them with extra just in case he spent a couple of days at the station again. Blade moved about the place, jumping on the couch, darting around a chair, even scaling the bookcase, before Kolivan was even able to set up the litter box in the bathroom. 

 

But, after everything was done, and Kolivan finally relaxed on his slightly ratty couch, Blade was there, curling up right next to Kolivan and immediately started to purr. He was starting to see Antok’s point about not coming home to an empty apartment. If this was a sign of how things would be in the future, Kolivan was actually looking forward to getting home tomorrow. 

  
  


Kolivan’s prepared for the inevitable teasing the next day. 

 

When he walked in, they’re all in the kitchen - already changed for the day. The conversation died down as soon as he walked past the door. He readjusted the strap on his duffle bag, and strode towards them.

 

“So, it would seem that my cat is a far better pet than Antok’s dog.”

 

“Hey!”

 

“Sorry, Antok, but it’s the truth.” Kolivan grabbed his phone from his back pocket. “Here, look for yourself.” 

 

On the screen was a picture of Blade - he’s perched on the kitchen counter, yawning with his mouth stretched wide; Kolivan couldn’t be prouder.

 

Thace chuckled, “C’mon, Antok. You’ve gotta admit it - that’s pretty damn cute.”

 

Antok just grumbled, “yeah, sure. It’s cute, but I don’t know about being cuter than my Brynn…” 

 

“He’s not an it - his name’s Blade.”

 

“What kind of name is Blade?” Antok scoffed.

 

“Antok…” Ulaz warned.

 

Kolivan laughed. “Seriously? You’ve got no room to tease me about pet names.”

 

Ulaz stood up to put himself between them and put a hand on each of their chests to push them back. “Alright, that’s enough of that. Antok, why don’t you go check the truck? There’s gotta be something that needs to be done to it. And Kolivan - why don’t you go get changed for the day?” He looked back and forth between the two of them, “Sound good?”

 

“I guess…”

 

“… Yeah.”

 

“Good!” Ulaz clapped his hands. “Let’s get to it then!”   

  
  


He had to admit - it’s nice having Blade around the apartment. 

 

It’s been a few days since Kolivan brought him home, and Blade had settled in like he had always lived there - like he was the king of the castle. He couldn’t have been luckier or happier that it had been a slow week; He’d been able to stay at home - for the most part - while Blade became acquainted with and adjusted to his surroundings. 

 

It certainly was much more lively with a kitten in the apartment. 

 

Kolivan chuckled as Blade attempted to jump from the floor to his bed, only to get his claws stuck in the comforter. Kolivan smiled as he leaned over to untangle him. 

 

“You’re still a little too small to jump that high, huh?” He laid Blade on bed beside him, “Why don’t you just lay there, hmm? We’ve still got a few minutes to spare before we have to get the day started.”

 

Blade plopped himself right in the middle of Kolivan’s chest, and began to purr. Kolivan ran his fingers down Blade’s back; he brought his hand back up to gently rub behind one of the kitten’s tiny ears.  _ It was nice _ , he thought.  _ No longer having to come home to an empty apartment, and not having to stress himself out that Blade could hurt himself or run away during the day. It’s gotta be boring for him though…  _

 

“Hmmm, maybe it’s time I got you some toys or something. You’ve got to get bored during that day when I’m gone.”

 

With that thought, Kolivan placed Blade down on the floor and stretched; he groaned when the joints in his shoulders cracked.

 

He looked down at the floor - Blade was still sitting where he had placed him. “C’mon bud, time to eat.”

 

_ “Mrow.” _

 

He chuckled, “Yeah, yeah - I know, you’re hungry.”

 

Kolivan walked out to the kitchen and placed a scoop of the dry kibble in Blade’s bowl. With Blade fed, and given fresh water, Kolivan went back into his room to get dressed for the day. 

 

After checking that all the windows were locked and Blade was napping on the back of the couch, Kolivan found himself on his way back to the pet store in search of cat toys.

 

***

 

Thursdays were cleaning day, which was the worst possible day to end up working. Both Lance and Keith hated cleaning day, for one because Lance was always assigned to empty the tanks and Keith because he was always assigned to clean the bird cages. 

 

It wasn’t even ten, and Lance was busy wiping down the inside of one of the huge tanks, when the door chimed, as much as he wanted to drop everything and run to beat Keith to the customer, if he did, then the fish would be stuck out of their tanks for longer and that wasn’t good for them. So he resigned himself to the fish alone for company. 

 

He looked up as Keith came back with a customer - the same guy that had adopted one of Blue’s kittens. The hot fireman. 

 

“There’s someone here to see you.” Keith gestured behind him, “I’ll take over the fish for now, go ahead.”

 

Lance beamed first at Keith then at Kolivan. “Proof that there is a God somewhere. Thanks buddy.” He stepped back, and knocked his elbows to Keith’s before smiling brightly at his savior from the algae. “Hey! How is the kitten?”

 

Kolivan cleared his throat, “He’s good. It’s been nice having him around. Just-- I’m a little worried that he might get bored? During the day, that is. Are there any toys I could get for him to keep himself busy with while I’m away at work.”

 

Keith snorted and Lance tucked his arm behind his back to subtly flip him off before he ushered Kolivan out of the fish room and into the cat room. “Of course! There are all kinds of toys for cats. Just make sure that any you get don’t have any catnip in them. It’s not very good for cats under nine months. Are you thinking, felt mice, or balls with bells in them? Or maybe some of these feathers on strings? Granted those are more for us to play with them…” 

 

“Maybe the felt mice, and the balls with the bells? Actually, maybe one of each? I’ve never had a cat before - let alone a kitten - so whatever you recommend would be best.”

 

“Oh, sure…” Lance was a little confused. Keith had a cat too, so he wondered why it was Kolivan had asked for him specifically. But, he definitely preferred this over the dumb tanks. “Well, it really depends on the cat. Blue loves the little balls, but Keith’s cat, Red, prefers the little mice and for us to tug them along with a string.” He frowned a little in thought. 

 

Kolivan tried to think what Blade would like best; he always seemed to stick by his side when he was home, so maybe he would benefit from actually playing with him instead of just with a toy. “I definitely want a toy that I could play with him when I’m home, and something that he would be able to play with on his own.”

 

Lance moved around the room and pulled a little package that, while being slightly more expensive, had both mice and balls in it. He glanced at Kolivan, wondering what kind of toy wouldn’t be silly for such a serious guy to play with. But, then again… Keith was surly and he played with the cats. And Shiro actually rolled around in the park with his dog. Finally, he reached for one of the toys; it had a long thin rod and a string attached, at the end of the string was a brightly colored bunch of feathers. Satisfied in his choices he presented them to Kolivan with a flourish. 

 

“Here you are, both mice and balls and this is for you two to play with together. You just drag it along and…” He slipped the end of it into one of the cages, before tugging on it lightly and letting the kitten inside chase it around a little before handing it to Kolivan. “Do you think those will work?” 

 

Kolivan smiled, “These are perfect, thank you.”

 

Lance grinned, a lopsided smile. “Great, I’ll ring these up for you. I’m glad to know the kitten is doing well. What was his name again?” 

 

“Blade; I thought it was fitting because of the marking on his face.”

 

“I like it! Granted, I’m not exactly great at naming pets, myself. Mine is Blue because of her eyes. Keith is no better. His cat is Red and there is no red on that animal anywhere.” Lance theatrically rolled his eyes, as he headed toward the counter. 

 

“I like those names. They both obviously meant something to you two, and that’s all that matters.”

 

Lance froze, a bit of red creeping into his cheeks. “Um… thanks. Oh, right! How did it go with the fish the other day? I forgot to ask the last couple of times you came in.” 

 

Kolivan chuckled, “It was definitely… something. I hadn’t realized that you had picked such difficult fish for them.”

 

Lance grinned, looking proud. “Of course! If they want to make sure all of them survive, they’d need another tank and a lot of research. Couldn’t make it too easy for them now, could I?”

 

“Well, they certainly realized quickly that night that fish aren’t as easy to take care of as they originally thought. Hopefully, it’ll teach them to think twice before opening their mouths about something they know nothing about.”  

 

Lance put all the toys in a bag before looking back up at Kolivan. “At least they aren’t teasing you now, right?” 

 

“Oh no, I think they’ve learned their lesson.” He gestured to the bag on the counter, “So, how much do I owe you for all that?”

 

“Oh… right. You’re probably busy! It’s um… $14.82.” Lance shifted a bit. “Sorry.” 

 

Kolivan grabbed the bag, “No, no - it’s nothing like that. I just didn’t want to keep you from anymore of your duties; I feel like I’ve taken up more than my fair share of your time for the day.”

 

Lance blinked then looked toward the fish room. The tanks… right. “Oh, yeah… I should probably get back to that… but, if you need anything else, I work all week. Feel free to stop by!” 

 

“I might just have to take you up on that; I’m positive I’ve forgotten something else.” He chuckled again, suddenly awkward as he walked towards the door, bag in hand, “Well, I’ll probably see you again soon then.”

 

Lance nodded then paused. “Hey, wait! I um… Didn’t catch your name?” Immediately, Lance felt like a complete idiot.  _ Who even did that? Oh that’s right. Keith did that. To Shiro actually. Lord help him.  _

 

“Oh. It’s, uh, Kolivan.” He gestured to Lance’s name tag, “Lance, right?”

 

Dumbly, Lance actually looked down at his nametag before he blushed. “Oh… yes! Yes, I’m Lance. I’ll, um… see you soon then, Kolivan.”

 

Kolivan smiled, and with a wave, turned to make his way back out to his truck.

 

It’s when he’s halfway out of the parking lot that Kolivan realized that,  _ Dear Lord, was I… flirting with him? And was he… flirting with me? _ Thank God, he was at a red light because it gave him the time to bounce his head against the steering wheel as he groaned.  _ Why do I have to be so awkward about these things…  _

 

***

 

Kolivan found himself approaching the pet shop for the third time just this week. It had been three weeks now since he had adopted Blade, and he didn’t really need anything. In fact, Blade was doing very well with his new toys and was even occasionally using the new cat bed and scratching posts that he had bought during his second trip. The flea collar had been a good idea but Kolivan had always been very careful about his doors and windows so it hadn’t been exactly needed. Granted, he hadn’t needed the cat treats, either… or the second batch of toys, although Kolivan had lied and said the first ones were lost. Actually, he didn’t really need the advice on the different kinds of cat food, since that was easily found on the internet. But, Kolivan rationalized, it was always best to get a second and professional opinion. 

 

So here he was, ready to learn about collars this time, but there was no sign of Lance anywhere. The other guy that Kolivan had seen a few times, Keith, was leaning near the register, scribbling down something while talking on the phone. So he waited, eyes shifting from display to display. 

 

“Yes, thank you.” Keith hung up the phone and shoved the papers to the side before looking up at Kolivan with an almost bored expression. “Hi, how can I help you?” 

 

Kolivan frowned a little, slipping back into his old bad habits. “Hmm, yes, I was looking for the young man that had helped me previously? Lance? I had a couple of additional questions.” 

 

One thin eyebrow rose, and Keith studied him for a minute before he shrugged. “Lance? He’s off right now.” 

 

While Kolivan did understand, he didn’t expect Lance to work every day after all, he was a bit concerned, because Lance had mentioned earlier that he would be working all week. “Ah, that is a shame… He isn’t ill, is he?” 

 

“I’m sorry sir, we can’t give out any personal information about our employees.” Keith smirked, but kept his tone professional. “However, I can help you if you need it.” 

 

Kolivan was disappointed. Honestly, he had no real reason to be there, Blade’s collar was actually fine, but Kolivan had been considering getting one with a little bell on it like Lance had suggested the last time he was there. “Not at this time, I am just browsing. Thank you, though.”

 

He absently made his way into the cat room, looking around but with no real interest. It seemed duller without Lance and his warm smile around. Lance had spoken highly of this Keith, and Shiro apparently had an interest in him but Kolivan couldn’t see it. Keith was much more… abrasive than Lance was, and he didn’t really have the same draw that Lance did. 

 

Kolivan paused, hand absently reaching for a dark purple collar before he drew back, looking thoughtful. He couldn’t lie about to anymore, at least not to himself. He was seriously interested in Lance.

 

***

 

When Lance came in for his shift, Keith was leaned back against the counter, a sly smile on his face. Which, generally meant nothing good. Lance wracked his brain, trying to figure out what it was he could have done recently to have earned that look. But, he honestly couldn’t think of anything. “What?” 

 

“Someone came in for you today.” Keith drawled, looking far too pleased with himself. “Seemed alright - tall, kinda buff, and asked just for you too. Poked around a bit after I told him you weren’t here but he left without buying anything.” 

 

For a minute Lance blanked. Who would be looking for him? It wasn’t like he was any better at the job than Keith was, they usually had similar shifts anyway… Really, the only people that ever came in regularly was Shiro and… oh.

 

Keith grinned. “I see you figured it out. So, what’s the story Lance? Is there a date in your future? I mean, he wasn’t bad looking, but kinda stiff…” Keith frowned for a minute. “Didn’t really seem like your type.” 

 

“Shut up, Mullet.” Lance snapped the words, but there was no real heat in them. 

 

“Bite me, String Bean.” 

 

“Really? Well, with an offer like that how can I refuse?” Lance leered, going so far as to wiggle his eyebrows. “But, you know me… If I did, it would not be easy to hide and what would Officer Shiro think when he came in and saw that?” Lance smirked. 

 

Keith cursed, and shoved away from the counter, face bright red as he mumbled an excuse and headed for the back room. Lance slipped behind the counter and clocked in, before making a mark in his own column. The little paper hung behind the register for just this kind of situations. They were both competitive but they were also professional so they just kept a points tally, and whoever lost at the end of the month had to do all the chores for a week. Currently, Lance was ahead by three. 

 

The steady rhythmic banging of cans against one of the shelves told Lance, Keith was taking his frustration out on the pet food. The almost audible cursing lead Lance to make another mark on the points board. He fastened his nametag and got ready to clean some cages. 

 

***

 

The bell chimed when Kolivan walked into the pet store. He looked around, and didn’t see anyone at first. “Hello? Anyone here?”

 

Lance popped his head up from behind the counter, eyes wide and looking almost startled. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t even hear the chime.. Oh!” His smile grew a little softer. “Kolivan! Nice to see you.” 

 

Kolivan rubbed the back of his neck and smiled, “Nice to see you too, Lance.” He looked around the empty store, “How -- uh, how’ve you been?”

 

“Pretty good! Payday was yesterday, so since Keith was working, I had to go take care of a few things.” He shrugged. “Our boss is kinda of a… well , my mom told me not to use those words. So. How about you? How’s Blade?”

 

“I’m good too. It hasn’t been too busy lately, so the break is nice.”He paused, “I am sorry to hear about your boss though.” Kolivan perked up, “Blade’s doing great! He really loved the toys you recommended. So, thank you for those.”

 

“Oh right… Shiro was telling us there was some guy starting fires? Did you catch him?” Lance slipped around the counter, and started filling his arms with things to put away. “That’s great! Cats are funny, sometimes all they want is your attention and sometimes they want nothing to do with you. Then, there’s Red, who just hisses at everything, but is actually a big cuddle baby.”

Kolivan shook his head, “Unfortunately, no; we haven’t caught the arsonist yet but we’ve been working pretty closely with Shiro and the rest of the police department so hopefully they’ll be able to make an arrest soon.” He went to follow behind Lance as he stocked the shelves. “I’m just glad that Blade seems to have adjusted as well as he did. I can’t lie - I was, and still am - a little nervous that I was gonna screw this up somehow. He’s almost always by my side when I’m home which, honestly, has been great. It’s been nice to come home to decompress from the day by playing with him and sitting with him curled up in my lap.”

 

He wedged a couple of dog toys onto their racks and reached out to lightly pat Kolivan’s arm. “I’m sure he’ll be caught. Granted, if Shiro lectures us on how to safely cross the street again, Keith may kill him before they even go out together.” He laughed lightly, before turning back to his task. “Kittens need more attention than older cats. Blue and Red play together most of the time, and since, Keith and I work so much, that’s a good thing for them to have company. But, it sounds to me, like Blade is pretty happy with you. Like I knew he would be.” He winked over his shoulder and put the last feeding bowl on the shelf. “I almost forgot. What did you need? Here I am rambling, and you probably came in for something.” 

 

“Shiro means well,” Kolivan chuckled. “And I’m sure he won’t push his luck as far as that to jeopardize his chances with Keith.” He followed behind Lance, “I love playing with Blade so It’s no hardship to spend the time with him. I just worry that he could get bored during the day, but I don’t think that I’m prepared for another kitten just yet. Maybe sometime in the future though, once things have settled down again with this arsonist.” He sighed, “I’d hate to take on the responsibility of another pet and not to be able to properly take care of it.” He hadn’t realized that Lance had stopped walking until he bumped into him. “Oh! Uh -- I wanted to grab some more treats for Blade - maybe in some different flavors?”

 

Lance caught Kolivan’s arm to keep his balance. “Hey now, no need to knock me off my feet, I like you fine.” He laughed and pointed a finger gun at Kolivan before straightening. “Treats it is. Man, I wish everyone treated their pets as well as you do. I can’t imagine why your friends thought you’d be bad at this.” 

 

“I -- Oh, uh. Yeah,” Kolivan stammered; he could feel the blush creeping up the back of his neck - his ears felt hot. “W - Well, I guess I can see where they’d think I be bad at this.” He shrugged, “I haven’t really had much experience with animals in general, so I can see where they’d think that. Plus, with my line of work, you never know how long you could be at the station for - sometimes it’s just your shift but it could also be as long as a week or more depending on the types of fires. I do have to say though, that I’m pleasantly surprised that I haven’t screwed this up in some way yet,” he chuckled.

 

Lance pulled a couple of different bags off the shelves, and passed them to Kolivan with a smile before reaching up for other options. “That’s kind of sad… I mean, you all spend so much time working to keep people safe.. Well not just you guys, but cops like Shiro too, and then you never have any time for yourself. Your girlfriend must have the patience of a saint.”

 

“Girlfriend?” Kolivan looked confused. “Oh! Uh, no. No girlfriend - or boyfriend - to speak of. Like I had mentioned, we don’t really get a whole lot of down time, so I’d feel too guilty about not being able to spend time together.” He shrugged, “it is what it is - I do love my job though, so there’s always that. As much as I’d like to change the fact that it gets a little quiet at home, I don’t really have the time to devote to another person.” Kolivan looked sheepish. “How, uh -- how about you? Certainly you have to have a lovely girlfriend… ”

 

Surprised, Lance turned, hand still extended to reach a high shelf, before he blushed and turned back to the shelf. “There are only two girls in my life and both are feline. Keith is probably the closest thing I have to an SO and he’s a mouthy little shit most of the time and a sarcastic one the rest. Besides, I’m working a lot more lately because Keith has this… security class thing once a week. Lots of movies and cheap popcorn for me.” 

 

“Well… at least you’re not completely alone in your apartment. It can get lonely at times, trust me.” He shrugged, “I would know. I’m just glad I’ve got Blade now, so it’s not as quiet anymore.”

 

When Lance turned around this time, his expression was thoughtful, before he smiled, and nodded. “Well then, I will just have to do whatever I can to make sure you have everything you need for him then…” 

 

As was the norm when Kolivan came in, Lance always stuck his receipt into the bag, but this time he made sure to tell an exceptionally funny story so that Kolivan didn’t notice him writing on the little bit of paper before shoving it into the bag.

  
  


To say that he's shocked is an understatement. 

 

There's a phone number -  _ Lance's phone number  _ \- scribbled on the bottom of his receipt. 

 

Kolivan hasn't moved since he placed the bags on the counter - still rooted to the same spot - his arm hovered above the bags, fingers still entangled in the plastic handles. Lance's phone number stared up at him, along with a helpful ‘ _ Call or text if you have any more questions’  _ complete with a lopsided smiley face drawn underneath it. 

 

His hand finally dropped to his side and he slowly made his way over to the rundown couch. Kolivan threw himself onto the sagging cushions to the dismay of Blade who had made himself comfortable stretched along the back of the cushions. 

 

_ Call or text if you have any more questions! :) _

 

_ Call or text if you have any more questions! :) _

 

_ Call or text if you have any more questions! :) _

 

No matter how many times he reread that line, it stayed the same.  _ That’s simple and to the point. Professional _ , Kolivan mused. But that damned smiley face! That lopsided little smiley face threw him off. He groaned and threw his head back against the cushions. The motion pulled another disgruntled meow from Blade as he stood and stretched, lightly jumping down on the cushions to curl up next to Kolivan. 

 

_ Was this just strictly business? Was Lance worried about Blade’s welfare? Or was this… something else entirely? _

 

Kolivan was under the impression that Lance was just a bubbly, touchy-feely guy who genuinely wanted to help him find the right kind of pet, but… maybe…? 

 

As he sat there and reflected on his many,  _ many _ visits to the pet store over the past few weeks, Kolivan allowed himself the possibility that maybe Lance had been flirting with him. The gentle touches on his arm, the constant smiles, and his laugh.  _ Oh, that laugh…  _

 

Lance always laughed at Kolivan's dry humor. 

 

He could feel his face heat up as he shifted to pull his phone from his back pocket. He's been out of the dating game for so long that he hadn't even realized that they had both been flirting with each other for weeks.  _ At least _ , Kolivan thought bitterly,  _ I hope he's been flirting with me…  _

 

As he settled himself on the couch again, Blade started to purr - the low, raspy rumble slightly eased his anxieties. 

 

He doesn't know how long he sat there - writing, deleting and rewriting texts to Lance before he gave up for the night; too anxious and full of self-doubt to start a conversation. He sighed as threw his phone down onto the cushions, angry at himself for over thinking something as simple as a text message. 

 

_ This is why I don't date; can't even send a simple text without overthinking it…  _

 

With a final sigh, Kolivan heaved himself to his feet and pocketed the receipt, not wanting to lose the number. He made his way back over to the counter to put the bags away and to feed Blade, who had followed him over and sat patiently by his food bowl. 

 

Not wanting to dwell on his failed attempts at starting a simple conversation, he busied himself with putting away his groceries and purchases from the pet store, and fed Blade. He scratched along the cat's spine as he poured the dry kibble into the bowl. 

 

After having fed Blade, and not really feeling up to eating himself, Kolivan walked through his apartment making sure the door and windows were locked for the night. Having taken care of that, he allowed himself to collapse into bed fully clothed. 

 

***

 

_ Beep! Beep! Beep! _

 

Kolivan groaned as he reached over to silence the shrill beeping oh his alarm. 

 

_ Beep! Bee--! _

 

After Kolivan shut the alarm off, he rolled over onto his back only to jerk in surprise at the startled  _ ‘Mrow!’  _ from Blade. 

 

“Well, that's what you get for sleeping so close to me. Hmm?” 

 

He ran his fingers up and down Blade’s back - he allowed himself to get lost in the repetitive motion, and Blade’s purrs until the back-up alarm he had set on his phone went off. 

 

“Shit!” 

 

Kolivan scrambled off of the bed, having scared Blade in the process who bolted into the living room to hide behind the couch. He stumbled in his haste to get to the closet, getting stuck in the sleeves of his shirt in the process.  _ Ugh _ , he sighed at his options,  _ I guess I’ll just have to make do until I get to the station.  _ He spared another quick look at the clock before he grabbed a random t-shirt and pulled it on. He only had time to change his shirt and put a scoop of cat food down for Blade before he ran out of the door - already late for the day. 

 

_ Thank god, there wasn't any traffic _ , he thought to himself as he pulled into the parking lot behind the station. After he put the car in park, Kolivan reached back behind his seat to grab the duffel bag he always kept in the car; inside were basic toiletries and a few days worth of clothes in case he had to remain at the station for an extended period of time. He was just inside the door, duffel bag slung over one shoulder before he remembered to lock his car; he turned and pressed the lock button on his keys. Satisfied at the resulting chirp from his car, Kolivan let the door swing shut behind him; he walked over to the time clock and punched in for the day.

 

With that done, he made his way to the locker room just off of the kitchen, and plopped himself down on the bench that ran down the center of the small room. Luckily there hadn’t been any calls in the short time that it had taken him to get there. Kolivan stood and stretched his arms above his head, pleased with the resounding pops in his spine, he turned back to his locker to get himself properly dressed for the day. The door swung open to reveal a yawning Thace.

 

Kolivan chuckled, “Rough night?”

 

“You’ve got no idea, Ulaz kept me up all night,” Thace grumbled. “Not that I’m necessarily complaining, but we’re not as young as we used to be… ” 

 

“Please,” Kolivan smiled as he held up his hand, “spare me the sordid details.”

 

Thace spun to face him - shirt stuck halfway over his head - he spluttered, face red, “Not -- ! Not like that! It wasn’t -- ! Oh my god Kolivan!”

 

Kolivan laughed, “Ha! I’m only teasing - you should’ve seen your face! Priceless!”

 

“Well, I’m glad you got a laugh out of that… ” Thace grumbled, as he finished pulling on his shirt. He turned towards his locker as Kolivan bent over to pull his jeans off. 

 

“What’s this then?” 

 

“Hmm?”

 

Kolivan straightened as he finished buttoning his work slacks; he hadn’t noticed the slip of paper fall out of his pocket, but Thace certainly had, and he was waving it in front of his face with a smirk on his face.

 

“So much for that whole not dating thing, huh?”

 

“What?”  _ Shit, Lance’s phone number _ . He had completely forgotten about shoving it in his pocket.  _ Double shit _ , he thought,  _ I still haven’t texted him either _ . Kolivan reached his hand out to snatch the receipt from Thace, but he stepped back and raised his arm above his head. “Give that back.”

 

“Hmmm, maybe not just yet; maybe I’ll hang onto this for a little while.” Thace smiled, still shirtless and spun on his heels - right out into the hallway, and right into Antok. 

 

He chuckled as he grabbed Thace’s shoulders to steady him. “What do we have here?”

 

“Nothin -- ”

 

“Kolivan got some guys number!” Thace cut Kolivan off and with a flourish, presented Lance’s number to Antok.

 

Antok took the paper, and looked over to Kolivan, “Woah! Really?” 

 

Kolivan sighed as he walked over to finally grab the receipt. “Yes, seriously. Now can’t we all be adults about this?” He placed the receipt and his cellphone inside his locker and clicked it shut. “Besides, just because I have this guys number doesn’t mean that I’m gonna date this guy or anything; our “relationship” is strictly professional.”

 

Antok and Thace shared a conspiratorial grin before Thace spoke up, “It’s the pet shop guy, isn’t it?”

 

Kolivan sighed, defeated to the inevitable teasing. “Just drop it guys. Seriously.” He shouldered past them both to get to the kitchen to finally grab something to eat for breakfast.

 

Antok waited until the door shut and he could faintly make out Kolivan having a muffled conversation with Ulaz in the kitchen before he ran over to Kolivan’s locker.

 

“What are you doing?” Thace had finally moved back to stand in front of his locker to finish getting changed.

 

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

 

“It looks like you’re trying to break open Kolivan’s locker.”

 

Antok smiled. “My dear friend, that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

 

“Can I ask  _ why _ you’re trying to break into Kolivan’s locker?” He shighed.

 

“Why? To get his phone of course.”

 

Thace perked up, “Oh?”

 

“Kolivan  _ did _ say that he hadn’t had the chance to text this guy yet, right? Well, I thought we could grab his phone and help him out a little - get the ball rolling on this conversation.” Antok paused in his attempts to break open the locker. “Unless-- You wouldn’t happen to remember the number would you?”

 

Thace frowned and shook his head, “Sadly, no.”

 

“Then, just watch the door so I can try to get this. Will ya?”

 

“Yeah, yeah.” Thace walked over to the door and peered out the small window; He finished buckling his pants when he turned back to look at Antok. “Any luck?”

 

“Damn! No - short of grabbing some bolt cutters, I don’t think we’re going to be able to crack this thing open. We’re just gonna have to hope for the best, that Kolivan will slip up and forget to lock it.”

 

Thace sighed, his shoulders drooping. “You know how he is about locking that thing. We’d have a better chance of Hell freezing over.”

 

“As much as I hate to admit it - we’re just going to have to wait and see.”

 

***

 

It had been four days since Antok, Thace and by extension, Ulaz had found out about Kolivan having Lance’s phone number. Four days of biding their time and trying to grab either Kolivan’s phone or the receipt with the phone number on it. Four days of failed attempts; four days of non-stop calls to crime scenes and small fires, but try as they might - Kolivan was too vigilant with keeping his locker locked and his phone inside it.

 

Antok groaned from where he was spread out on the couch, he had an arm thrown over his face. “We’re seriously never going to get that phone, are we?”

 

Thace patted his shoulder as he walked by, “There, there. I’m sure we’ll figure something out between the three of us. Kolivan’s gotta slip up eventually.”

 

“I don’t know,” Antok rolled over so that he was laying on his side, “for all we know, he could’ve already texted the guy.”

 

“I doubt that.”

 

“Oh. Ulaz, I didn’t see you there.”

 

Ulaz waved his hand dismissively, “It’s fine. Anyway, like I was saying, I highly doubt that he’s texted  _ or _ called that boy yet. Haven’t you seen how he’s just been staring at his phone the past few days?”

 

Thace nodded, “Yeah, Kolivan’s pining, and he’s pining  _ hard _ over this guy. It’s just -- ” He paused. “It’s just that he’s such a nice guy, and he can’t see it about himself. All he can see is the workaholic that he is, and that’s good! Don’t get me wrong! He just needs to relax.”

 

Antok jumped up. “Holy shit! I’ve got the best idea!”

 

“Well, are you gonna tell us?” Ulaz crossed his arms.

 

“Of course I’m gonna tell you; hold your horses. Okay, here’s the thing - hasn’t Shiro been talking about asking that guy out from the same pet store?”

 

They both nodded.

 

“Okay, well, why don’t we ask Shiro if he’d be willing to have a double date with Kolivan? That way he’d be able to stop all this moping and pining all over the place. Besides,” Antok shrugged, “I’m gonna have to throw in the towel with hoping to grab his phone  _ or _ that guy’s phone number. If he hasn’t slipped up in the past few days, I doubt he will anytime soon.”

 

Thace smiled, “You know, that might just work… ” 

 

***

 

“How long are you going to mope around?” Keith walked into their little apartment and despite the sour comment, he was practically floating on air. He tossed his jacket over the back of their couch, dropped into his favorite chair, as he peered at Lance’s sprawled place on the couch. 

 

“I’m not moping. I’m genuinely feeling down because the guy I thought was interested in me, isn’t. I am allowed to feel that, Keith.” 

 

“Yeah, you are, but seriously, how do you know he isn’t interested? So, he hasn’t come in for a few days. That doesn’t mean anything.” Keith stretched before he slumped comfortably into the cushions. 

 

Lance mumbled something under his breath and then peered at his roommate. “Why are you so supportive all of a sudden?”

 

“Don’t change the subject.” 

 

“Fine. You want to know?” Lance pulled himself up, a glare on his face. “I wrote my number on the bottom of his receipt the last time he came into the shop. Okay? I knew, he was outta my league and I did it anyway. So, _ please _ \- let's forget about how pathetic I am and you explain why you suddenly care. Last time I was turned down, you laughed at me for an hour before  _ finally _ being a friend and buying me ice cream. What’s your deal?” 

 

Keith grinned. It was a dopey smile and that was all it took for Lance to figure it out.

 

“Oh my God! He finally asked you! That’s great!” It honestly was, but damned if it didn't make Lance feel just a little worse about his own situation. Still, he grinned, and poked Keith lightly. “When?”

 

It was a testament to how happy Keith was, that he didn’t even hesitate to answer. “He wants to go on Saturday. He’s on call, but we’re planning to have dinner. I hope I can get off on time.” 

 

Lance shook his head. “No worries, I’ll cover for you. Go have fun, and tell me all about it when you get home, yeah?” 

 

Keith shook his head, but his smile didn’t fade at all. “Actually, do you want to go too?” 

 

“What? No! Keith! No! Friends are not allowed on dates! What the hell?”

 

“I know that! But, Shiro has a friend that’s been out of the dating game for a while now, and I was thinking… since that fireman kinda blew you off like an ass, that you could maybe come and meet this friend of his? He’s also a firefighter, so at least he’ll be hot right? You like hot guys.” 

 

Part of Lance was touched by the concern, seriously, but he didn’t really think he could sit around and watch Shiro and Keith be all cute while he was awkwardly meeting this friend. Plus, and Lance hated to admit it, despite the obvious brush off, he was still really into Kolivan. 

 

“Nah, dude, it’s fine. I’m not crashing your first date. Tell you what though, maybe we can try next weekend or something.” Surely, that was enough time for Lance to get his head on straight and get over the guy. “I’ll cover your shift and have a movie night with the girls. Candles, fancy popcorn, the works.” He grinned, and pointed to the little kitty castle that Red and Blue were currently sleeping on. 

 

Keith frowned for the first time since he got home but it was only for a second before his smile was back. “Thanks Lance. If that guy comes back to the shop, I’ll take care of him, so he doesn't bother you anymore.” 

 

Lance smiled, a little weak but real enough, and bumped his fist into Keith’s. “Sounds good, man, thanks.”

 

***

 

Keith groaned as he bent over; it was delivery day and he was responsible for bringing in, and organizing all the dog food. It wasn’t that bags were heavy, it was just all the repetitive motions - crouch to grab the bag, and lift it to its shelf - had started to get to him. He was just happy, because he was the only one there, that it had been a relatively quiet day in the store - not too many people had come in, and it was almost time to close up for the day.

 

_ Of course I jinxed it _ , he thought as he heard the bell above the door chime. He shouted to the front of the store, “I’ll be right with you!” He fixed the last bag of dog kibble for that display and wiped his hands on his pants. He was still fixing his apron as he walked to the front. “Oh.” Keith stopped at the counter, “It’s  _ you _ .”

 

“Uh, yeah?” Kolivan looked around. “Is Lance in today?”

 

Keith cocked his head to the side, a hand on his hips, “And why should I tell  _ you _ about where Lance is? Hmm?”

 

“O - Oh -- umm. I -- ”

 

Keith pulled himself away from the countertop, and pointed a finger at Kolivan. “Let me stop you right there.” He walked towards Kolivan until he poked him in the chest with his finger. “Don’t come in here acting all apologetic after you blew Lance off like that.” He poked his finger into Kolivan’s chest again. “That was a dick move, and you know it.”

 

Kolivan stood there, hands clenching and unclenching, “I had - uh, actually wanted to apologize to Lance for not calling or -- or texting.”  _ God, why am I so awkward at this?  _ “It’s been a busy week, and -- and that’s no excuse. I know that but I honestly didn’t mean for it to seem like I was blowing him off.”

 

“That’s such a lame exc -- what?” Keith stopped mid-rant, and backed up. “What did you just say?”

 

Kolivan couldn’t bring himself to look Keith in the eyes, too ashamed for his actions. “I’ve been carrying that receipt with Lance’s number on it - ” He paused to pull it out of his pocket; it was creased and from crumpled from his constant playing with it. He handed it to Keith.

 

Keith smoothed it out to read Lance’s writing -  _ Call or text if you have any more questions! :) _

He sighed and handed the receipt back to Kolivan. “You know, this would be a lot easier if you hadn’t been such a complete asshole and had just texted him.” 

 

“I know.”

 

“Okay, look. Here’s the deal - and Lance’s gonna kill me for telling you this, but - he’s been moping around our apartment for the past week. He’s been thinking that you were too far out of his league to -- ”

 

“He thought I was what?!”

 

Keith chuckled, “yeah, I know. As I was saying - he’s been moping all week.” Keith paused, a finger on his chin, “you know what? How about this? I’ve got a date with Shiro this Saturday and it was supposed to be a double date with Lance and some fireman that Shiro’s friends with; why don’t I have Shiro cancel with that other guy, and we bring you along?”

 

Kolivan was dumbstruck. “Actually, I - uh, I think I was supposed to be that other guy that Shiro was supposed to bring. I haven’t been in the dating scene for awhile and Shiro - and a few of my other friends - thought it would be good for me to put myself out there.” He rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. “I actually was planning to cancel on Shiro because I was still trying to work up the nerve to maybe -- eventually, ask Lance out on a date. But it looks like I screwed that up for myself… ”

 

Keith was stunned - until he allowed a smirk to curl his lip. “Oh, this is absolutely perfect.”

 

“Um -- ”

 

Keith waved his hand, “No, no. Leave it to me. I’m gonna let you off easy on this only for the fact that I’m sick of Lance moping around the apartment. Here’s what I’m gonna do - I’ll talk to Lance and try to get him to come with us Saturday.” Keith walked back over to the register, “Okay, now that that’s all taken care of - is there anything else I can help you with today?”

 

Kolivan smiled. “No, uh -- that’s all that I really wanted to come for - to talk to Lance. So, I’ll, uh -- ” He gestured to the door, “I’ll just get going then.”

 

“Yeah, you do that.” Keith smiled. “See you Saturday night - I’m sure Shiro will let you know what time and where we’re all going.”

 

***

 

Keith threw his bag down as he shut the door the their apartment. “Lance? Are you in here?”

 

“Yeah! What’s up?” Lance called from his room, before poking his head out of the door.

 

“You know how I said you should try to get over that guy that adopted Blue’s kitten?” Keith toed off his shoes and put them on the rack by the door. “Well, I really think you should come on a double date with Shiro and I - supposedly this guys a firefighter as well.” He straightened up as he waited for Lance to answer.

 

Lance wandered out of his room, Blue trailing behind him. “You mentioned it the other day, but I don’t think I should horn on your first date with Shiro. You’ve been waiting a long time for this.” He rubbed the back of his neck, before moving over to the kitchen and tossing Keith a bottle of water. “Plus, I told you I’d cover your shift for you, so I’ve gotta close on Saturday. Maybe another time?”

 

“Thanks for the concern, but seriously? Do you think I’d even ask if I didn’t want you there? We could always reschedule for another night. C’mon, it’d be good for you to get out for a little while.”

 

Lance stared, then sighed. “Yeah, I know… I’m just..” He shook his head. “No, I’m not going to make you reschedule the date you’ve been wanting for months now. Besides, do you think that Old Hacksaw will ever let us both be off on the same night? Let alone on a Saturday?” Lance meant the owner of the pet shop. He was a squint-eyed old man named Haxus and he was more of a never there at all, type of owner. He showed up exactly one time a month to look things over, and was content to let Lance and Keith handle everything else. 

 

Keith sighed. “You’re impossible, you know that? Whatever, then - you can’t say I didn’t try at least.” He walked past Lance, “I’m gonna grab a shower.”

 

“What? What did I do?” Lance threw up his hands. “You know what? Fine. I’ll go out tonight, will that make you happier?” He headed toward his room. 

 

“Where are you gonna go?”

 

“Hell, it’s the middle of the week, I’ll go down to that coffee bar for a while. That place is always full. I’ll even bring you back a coffee.” Lance’s voice was muffled, and he walked back out wearing a dark blue shirt and tugging on a baseball cap.

 

Keith waved him off, “yeah, yeah. Just don’t stay out too late, you’ve gotta open tomorrow morning, remember?”

 

“Yeah, I know… But it isn’t that far. Besides, I’ve never been late to work, don’t even worry.” Lance shrugged into  his jacket, and moved for his shoes. 

 

Keith shrugged, “Those sound like famous last words to me, but whatever. Enjoy yourself, I guess.” He yawned into his hand, “I’m grabbing that shower, and going to bed; I’m exhausted from fixing all that dog food today.”

 

“Well on the bright side, I’m due to clear out the whole store room on Saturday so you’ll get out of that.” Lance slipped his shoes on and headed for the door. 

 

“Hmmm, yeah. I definitely wasn’t looking forward to that.” Keith shooed him towards the door, “Go, before you change your mind.”

 

Lance chuckled as he grabbed his keys, “no worries man, I’m going. I’ll be out of your mullet in a minute.”

 

Keith flipped him off as Lance shut the door behind him.

 

***

 

Lance sighed around his coffee cup.

 

The place was packed, which wasn’t unusual for this time of night. He swirled his stirrer through the foam at the top of his cup, He had thought that going out would’ve made him feel better but he had been mistaken. It was only making him feel worse to be surrounded by all these couples. He glanced down at his watch - he’d been here for a little over an hour - long enough to call it a night.

 

Not paying attention, he threw his cup away and grabbed the handle on the door - only to have the door yanked away from him as someone else walked through.

 

“Oof!”

 

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry sir -- Lance?”

 

_ Oh. of course. _ Lance looked up to find him staring at Kolivan. He only let himself frown for a second before he forced a smile on his face. “Sorry about that - didn’t see you there.”

 

“No, no. I should be apologizing to you. I almost knocked you over. Are you alright?”

 

“You nearly swept me off my feet there.” He winked, then silently cursed himself to hell. Damn his ingrained flirting nature.

 

Kolivan blushed. He opened his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind him. “Oh! So sorry, let me just move out of your way.” He turned back towards Lance, who was still standing next to the garbage bin. “Um, I actually wanted to talk to you about -- uh, the past week -- ”

 

Lance waved him off, “hey, it’s fine. I get it - I can take a hint when my, uh, advances are unwarranted. No big deal.”

 

“What?” He gaped. “Unwarranted advances?”

 

“Yeah, man. I gave you my phone number and you didn’t even have the decency to text me a simple no.” Lance shrugged,.

 

“No! Dammit - oh my God. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. You’re ‘advances’ were very much warranted. It’s just -- ugh. I’m so awkward at this.” He took a deep breath. “The only reason I hadn’t texted you back was because of the crazy week I had; we were swamped all week, and I didn’t want to half-ass a conversation with you. And I know that’s a lame excuse but -- ” Kolivan sighed. “Would you want to go to dinner this Saturday? I was supposed to go on a double date with a friend of mine but I’ll just cancel that.”

 

“Wait, wait, wait. Your friend wouldn’t happen to be a cop would he?”

 

“Uh, yeah. Shiro - you know him; I was supposed to go with him and your friend for a double date.” Kolivan stopped. “Why are you laughing?”

 

Lance waved his hand. “It’s not you, oh my God.” He wiped the tear from his eye. “I think they were trying to set the both of us up - I was the other person on that date.”

 

“Oh!” Kolivan chuckled. “Well, it seems that that worked out well for us at least. So - How about it? Would you like to join me Saturday night?”

 

“Ye-- oh.” His face fell.

 

“Is something the matter?”

 

“I can’t; not this Saturday at least. I promised to cover Keith’s shift for him, so I’ve gotta close that night.” He watched Kolivan’s face fall. “But… maybe another night?”

 

Kolivan smiled, a slight blush on his face. “I’d like that. Why don’t you text me when you’re available next? As you can tell by all this, I’m not that good at getting conversations going.”

 

Lance chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll definitely do that. Only if you promise to text back though.”

 

“I promise.”

 

***

 

Lance felt like he was floating on air; his silly little crush on Kolivan wasn’t so silly anymore. He could scream he was so happy, even having to run back inside the coffee bar to grab Keith’s latte hadn’t put a damper on his mood.

 

He stood out in the hallway humming, as he searched through his pockets for his keys. Finally locating them in his back pocket, he swung the door open. 

 

The noise startled Keith, who, by the looks of it, had fallen asleep on the couch watching alien documentaries. Again.

 

“Mmm,” he yawned. “Did you remember to grab my coffee?”

 

“Yes, I remembered to grab your decaf latte. Honestly. What’s the point of drinking this if there’s no caffeine in it?” Lance crinkled his nose as he handed the cup to Keith.

 

“It’s too late in the day for caffeine. Some of us would actually like to sleep at some point tonight.” He eyed Lance. “I’m gonna assume by the smile on your face, and the literal spring in your step that you enjoyed yourself at the coffee bar?” Keith sipped at his latte.

 

“As a matter of fact, I did! I actually scored myself a date with Kolivan!”

 

“What!? Really?!”

 

“Yes, really. No need to sound so surprised there buddy.”

 

Keith laughed.

 

“And what’s so funny?”

 

“It’s just -- Lance. That firefighter that Shiro and I were trying to set you up with was Kolivan.”

 

“Yeah. I know.”

 

“You know? How?”

 

“Kolivan told me. We literally ran into each other and he explained why he hadn’t texted or called. And he asked me out - said he was even gonna cancel some blind date he had for this Saturday that Shiro had set up for him.” Lance shrugged, “it didn’t take long for us to put two-and-two together that you and Shiro had been trying to set us up.”

 

Keith let his head roll back against the couch cushions and groaned. “Seriously? All this could’ve been avoided if you two hadn’t been such awkward, pining fools.”

 

“Hey!” Lance pointed a finger at himself, “this pining fool just got himself a date with a hot fireman, so no need to get crabby, mister.”

 

“Whatever. All that matters is that you’ve got your date, I’ve got my date, and that this coffee is pretty good. So, with that,” He reached over to grab the remote to turn the tv off. “Goodnight, and thanks for the coffee. I owe ya one.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, you always owe me one.” Lance double-checked that he had locked the front door. “Goodnight Keith.”

 

***

 

Kolivan barely made it back inside his apartment before he pulled his phone out to call Shiro;

it rang twice before he picked up. 

 

“Hello? Kolivan?”

 

“Hey, Shiro. Listen - I’m gonna have to cancel that date Saturday.”

 

“Aww, Kolivan, why? I thought you had opened up more to the possibility of dating again?”

 

Kolivan chuckled, “I did. I’m only canceling because I just got done making a date with Lance - we figured out that you and Keith were planning on setting us up. And Lance couldn’t make it Saturday anyway, so we rescheduled.” 

 

“That’s great! I’m so happy for you guys! You both deserve to be happy.”

 

“Now, now Shiro. Let’s not get carried away just yet; we haven’t even been on a date yet. It might not even work out.”

 

“Hey. No, none of that. You and Lance are going to have a great time together on your date, and who knows? Something might come of it - you never know.”

 

“Thanks, Shiro. Always optimistic -- ” 

 

Kolivan could almost hear him shrug, “What can I say? It’s what I’m good at. But… seriously, congrats on finally getting the nerve to ask Lance out yourself. Hate to cut you short, but I’ve got an early shift tomorrow, so I’m gonna get going. Alright?”

 

“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll let you go - go get some rest.”

 

“Goodnight Kolivan.”

 

The line went dead as Shiro disconnected the call. He felt bad because Shiro and Keith had gone to all the trouble of trying to set him and Lance up and then they both went and made the date on their own.

 

_ “Mrow!” _

 

Kolivan bent over to pick Blade up. “Did you think I forgot about you?” Blade purred as Kolivan walked them both into the kitchen, “You’re hungry, aren’t you? Aren’t you?” He placed Blade back down on the floor so he could grab his food. “Go ahead, bud.”

 

Kolivan sighed as he went about making dinner for himself - he’d never live it down if Antok heard him talking to Blade like he was a baby. 

 

***

 

Lance ended up kicking Keith out of work an hour earlier than they had previously agreed on. The man was a disaster, he messed up two different orders, spent his entire break asking Lance about clothes and tried three times to steal his phone back from Lance to cancel the date. Finally, though, Lance told him exactly what clothes to wear, and then threatened to take an entire week off if Keith cancelled the date, before he kicked him out of the store. Honestly, he did not envy Shiro one bit. 

 

Work went as smoothly as it usually did, for which Lance was grateful. He was a little nervous himself, because he was supposed to text Kolivan when he got off. Lance was mostly sure that he wouldn’t be left hanging again, but there was this nagging little voice in the back of his mind that insisted it was a very bad idea. He mulled it over on his short walk home, eventually sending something small and casual. 

 

_ ‘It’s Lance. My next day off isn’t until Monday. Hope you had a good day.’ _

 

Then, he threw his phone onto his bed and scooped up both cats in order to hide his face for a while. When he finally resurfaced, he felt like an idiot. So he carried on with his original plans, determined not to look at his phone at all while he set everything up for a comfortable night at home. 

 

The movies were easy, both he and Keith were hard core movie watchers, and neither had any real preference for what they watched. So he piled blankets on the couch, and pulled out enough movies to keep him awake until dawn, before padding off to the kitchen to feed the girls and make his snack. 

 

Since he was so focused on not looking at his phone at all, he completely overcooked and burned the popcorn, which of course led to him dragging a bag of trash all the way out to the dumpster because Keith would murder him with a rusty spoon if he came back to an apartment that smelled like burnt food. 

 

The thing was, as he made his way back up to their apartment, that he could still smell the smoke from it even out here in the hallway. Lance froze when an alarm shrieked over his head, then he bolted for his apartment. The smell of smoke was stronger now, and he could see it billowing out from under a couple of the doors. He reached for the doorknob and yelped, jerking his hand back at the warmth. Lance didn’t understand how it could have gotten so hot in such a short time. 

 

Still, Blue and Red were in there, and Keith and Lance had made a promise when they had first moved in together that they would always look after each other’s pets like they were their own. It was one of the few things they had never argued about. Lance was determined to get their girls to safety. He shoved his jacket off and used it to get the knob to turn. 

 

An orange streak flashed by him and Lance dove, his hip and elbow hitting the ground hard and just catching Red by the tip of her tail and yanking her backward. She yowled but Lance bundled her into his jacket, and tucked it close before looking toward the open door for Blue. 

 

The smoke was much thicker now, and the heat was all around him. Flames were licking at the walls inside his apartment, and Lance coughed, gripping the jacket with Red in it tightly as tears slipped out of his eyes. 

 

He had to find Blue.

 

***

 

The night had started off amazingly.

 

Shiro had picked Keith up from in front of a small park a few blocks away from his apartment building. Keith was dressed nicely, thanks to help from Lance. He wore a deep red button up shirt and black skinny jeans - nice, but not overdressed; and according to Lance - the jeans showed off his best ‘ass-ets.’ Keith had punched Lance in the shoulder after that train wreck of a pun. He nervously fiddled with the first two buttons that he had undone on the shirt, and he had tied back his hair into a low ponytail per Lance’s suggestion.

 

Shiro pulled the cark up next to the curb, and parked it. Keith smiled as he got out of the car - his nerves from earlier making a reappearance.  

 

Shiro was dressed just as nicely - if not more so, at least in Keith’s opinion - in a dark purple, satin button up and dark gray dress slacks; he also had the first few buttons undone, and had opted to roll his sleeves. The dark color of the shirt threw his prosthetic into sharp relief - the metal reflecting off the passing streetlights.

 

“Hey.”

 

“Hey, yourself.” Shiro chuckled. “So you ready to go?”

 

Keith smiled as he tucked a stray piece of hair behind his ear. “Yeah.”

 

“C’mon then,” Shiro walked him back over to the car, and opened the door for him, and with a flourish proclaimed, “after you.”

 

“Oh my God, you’re such a dork.” Keith laughed as he slid in the passenger seat.

 

“Maybe so, but you like me for it.”

 

Keith blushed and ducked his head, “yeah. Yeah I do.” He willed the blush to go away as Shiro shut the door and walked around to the driver’s side. 

 

He slid in and started the engine. He looked over to Keith after he had pulled out onto the street. “So, have you ever been to Vasileio’s?”

 

Keith hummed, “Can’t say that I have. I’ve heard great reviews though. Lance had actually wanted to go but we could never seem to get reservations for when the both of us had off.”

 

“Well,” Shiro grinned. “I’m glad I was able to grab us a table tonight then. The foods great, and the garlic knots are to die for.”

 

The car ride to the restaurant was short; short enough that the silence that had fallen over them didn’t have the time to become awkward which Keith was beyond grateful for because the conversation had petered out. Soon enough though, Shiro had pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. It was a quaint little place - nothing more than a mom-and-pop Italian place. The smell from outside was divine; Keith’s stomach rumbled as they walked towards the door.

 

“Not hungry are you?” Shiro laughed,

 

Keith elbowed him in the stomach. “Shut up, you.”

 

Shiro held the door for him as they approached and the waiter had promptly sat them down at a table in the back. A small candle and a bottle of wine awaited them as they took their seats.

 

The food  _ was  _ delicious, and the conversation was easy going - flip-flopping between conversation about Shiro’s and Keith’s days, respectively.

 

The night couldn’t have been going any better for them until Shiro’s phone rang. He looked across the table at Keith and grimaced. “Sorry, I have to take this; technically I’m still on-call tonight.”

 

“It’s fine, go ahead.” Keith smiled as he pulled out his own phone to quickly send a text to Lance. Not waiting for a reply, he slipped the phone back into his pocket and picked his fork up, trying not to eavesdrop on to Shiro’s conversation.

 

Shiro mumbled into the phone, trying to keep his voice down as not to interrupt the other patrons meals. Keith was only able to catch every other word or so as he pushed the spaghetti around his plate. His attention was caught, however, when he heard Shiro mumble the address of his apartment building. 

 

Keith’s fork clattered to the plate as Shiro hung up. 

 

Shiro sighed, “I’m so sorry to have to cut this short Keith, but apparently there’s a fire at an apartment complex across town and they need me to help secure the scene.”

 

“What’s the address?”

 

“What?”

 

“Shiro. What’s the address of that apartment complex?”

 

“127 Palmetto Drive, Why?”

 

Keith jumped up. “That’s my address - that’s mine and Lance’s apartment building.” He pulled Shiro to his feet. “C’mon. We gotta go.” Keith threw some money down onto the table as he forced Shiro towards the door. “Lance’s home. I texted him earlier and he never answered. C’mon! We gotta hurry! He wanted to spend the night relaxing with the cats.”

 

Shiro ran out the door with Keith hot on his heels. He fumbled with the keys before he was able to get the car started; he sped off with a frantic Keith in the passenger seat who was nervously trying to get in touch with Lance.

 

Every call went straight to voicemail, and each text remained unanswered.

 

***

 

It was absolute chaos when Shiro pulled up to Keith and Lance’s apartment building. There were people running from the building as the flames spread. Emergency personnel were tending to some in the back of the ambulances, while some were staring at the building in horror.  Shiro hadn’t even come to a full stop before Keith had sprinted from the car. 

 

“Keith! No! Wai -- !” Shiro put the car in park and jumped out after Keith. He managed to grab him just before he hit the curb in front of the building. “Stop!” Shiro pulled him back by the forearm. “You can’t just go rushing in there! Let the fire department take care of -- ”

 

“Shiro? Keith? What are you two doing here?” Kolivan walked over to them. He was in his full gear, and had been in the process of putting on his helmet and face shield.

 

Keith shook his arm free from Shiro’s grip. “I live here! And Lance -- !”

 

“What?! Is Lance still in there?”

 

Keith shook his head, frantic. “I don’t know! He’s not answering his phone or any of my texts. And the cats! Oh my God -- the cats are still in there!” Shiro had grabbed his arm again. “Shiro -- ! Let me go! I’ve gotta -- ”

 

They were interrupted by a police officer who had shouted for Shiro.

 

“Shirogane! I found someone!” The young man disappeared into the alley and Shiro tightened his hold on Keith. But the moment the rookie returned to view, with Lance’s arm held over his shoulder and Lance doubled over a bundle of jacket, Keith is gone, racing across the short space with both Shiro and Kolivan right behind him. 

 

Keith skidded to a stop but froze completely when Lance looked up at him. Lance looked awful. His face was covered in soot and he had a pale red mark on his cheek. The hand and arm curled around his jacket seemed fine but there was a bright red burn on his other hand and parts of his hair were charred. Kolivan slipped his hand to Lance’s back, trying to help support him. 

 

“Oh my God!” 

 

Lance coughed several times and ignored Shiro’s command to stay still, even pulled away from Kolivan’s supporting arm, to shove the wiggling bundle of jacket at Keith. Then the head of an orange tabby popped out of the jacket and hissed in protest. 

 

“Red!”

 

Lance smiled, small and sad. “I… I… ” he paused to cough several times, before he looked back up at Keith. “I promised… to always look after her… ” His voice was wrecked, raspy and harsh. 

 

Keith’s tough facade cracked, and he clutched the bundle of jacket and cat closer, tears pouring down his face. “  … Lance…  ” It took him a moment to calm down, and when he looked back up, Kolivan and Shiro had already gotten Lance on a stretcher. “Wait! What about Blue?”

 

A tear streaked through the dirt and soot covering Lance’s face. “I… couldn’t find her…”

 

Shiro froze, and Kolivan immediately shoved his helmet over his face, heading toward the building without a backward glance. 

 

***

 

He had appreciated his friends letting him stay behind to check on Lance, but he had a duty to do. He needed to help them clear the building and now, he needed to do his best to look for Blue. From what he could hear over their radios, most people had either been evacuated or unable to be rescued. Still, Kolivan needed to do what he could. 

 

He hadn’t been inside for more than five minutes before Antok had signaled for them all to evacuate because the fire was too much. This was not a simple electrical fire, as it had spread far too quickly and the entire place was engulfed in flames. He ducked into one last apartment, and spotted something pale near the edge of the door. It was a cat, and Kolivan didn’t even take the time to look again before scooping it up and bolting for the door. 

 

He coughed into his mask as Antok pushed him through the front door of the building. He stumbled, and tightened his hold on the frightened cat in his arms. The cat continued to squirm as he made his way over to the ambulance that Lance and Keith were huddled in the back of.

 

“I think I have something of yours?”

 

“Oh my God! Blue! You found her!” He coughed as he nuzzled into her dirty fur. “Oh my God, girl you scared me so much don’t you  _ ever _ do that to me again!”

A weak meow was the only answer he received.

 

Kolivan touched his shoulder. “C’mon, let’s get her some oxygen, okay?

 

Lance sniffled, “Yeah. I just -- I don’t know how I can ever thank you enough for bringing her back to me… ”

 

“Lance, you don’t have to thank me - I’m just doing my job.” Kolivan smiled. “I’m just happy that it worked out for you. But… I’m sorry about your apartment.”

 

“Yeah -- ”

 

“Oh my God, Lance! Is that Blue?!” 

 

Lance started to cough again as Keith fretted over him and Blue. Kolivan exchanged a look with Shiro before brushing a hand down Lance’s back. Then he nodded, and stepped away to speak to his team. 

 

Shiro grabbed Keith’s shoulder, “Keith, We’ve gotta let the both of them get some oxygen. Okay? And as soon as Blue’s breathing a little easier then why don’t you and I take them both to the vet to get checked over? Besides,” He looked over to Lance, “You need to get  _ yourself _ over to the hospital to get yourself checked out too. C’mon,” He gently pried Blue away from Lance so the the EMT’s could get him some oxygen. Someone handed Shiro a portable oxygen mask for Blue. He fit the smaller mask around her nose; she struggled against his hold, but he didn’t give her the chance to wriggle free.

 

It didn’t take long for the EMT’s to shoo everyone away from Lance and bundle him into the ambulance. Keith was honestly seconds away from chasing after it on foot, but the warmth of Red and the sounds of the machine that Shiro was using kept him still. 

 

Shiro reached over to hand the oxygen mask back to one of the EMT’s and nodded to Keith, “Let’s get these two checked out, shall we?”

 

Keith hugged Red closer to his chest, “Yeah, let’s go.”

 

***

 

Lance blearily stared at the white ceiling. The mask over his face itched something fierce and none of the doctors would actually tell him anything, so he had to wait until Keith showed up. His right hand was wrapped from his fingers to his elbow, but the nurse had put something on it that helped with the burning feeling. He idly moved his left hand around, poking at a bandage on his cheek, and tracing an overly warm patch of skin here and there. He hated hospitals. 

 

He looked up as the door opened, expecting to see Keith - or finally, a doctor - only to have Kolivan peek his head in. Kolivan smiled as he gestured to the door he was still holding. “Can I come in? I wanted to check up on you, and we - Thace and Ulaz - needed to you to answer some questions. If you’re up for it, that it.”

 

Lance rolled his left shoulder and made a thumbs up gesture, before he waved his hand over the mask. He coughed a bit, before he spoke, voice low and raspy. “Fish guys… right?”

 

Kolivan chuckled as he walked into the room and allowed the door to quietly swish shut. “Yeah, the fish guys, and Antok - he’s another firefighter, and our friend; He’s -- they are all worried about you. Oh! Keith and Shiro are still out in the waiting room, but the nurse didn’t want to overwhelm you with so many visitors right off the bat.” He pulled a chair up next to Lance’s bed. “I can send my friends away, if you would want?”

 

Lance shook his head, and pointed at the door before making the thumbs up again. “Not supposed to talk too much… But.” He coughed again, then shook his head. “I like people.”

 

Kolivan nodded. “I’ll try to have them keep the talking to a minimum - it’s just some routine questions to hopefully clear up any confusion surrounding the fire.” Kolivan stood back up, “I’ll be right back with them all, okay? Maybe if we promise to not make you exert yourself then the nurse will allow us all back for a few minutes.

 

Lance caught Kolivan’s sleeve. “Keith.” He coughed again, but spoke a little louder this time. “Keith needs to yell… at the doctor. Has my… power of attorney. Won’t tell me, anything…”

 

Kolivan patted Lance’s hand, “Don’t worry about that - I’m sure Keith’s done plenty of yelling at doctors already.” He placed Lance’s hand back on the bed, careful not to disturb any of the IV tubes and slipped out the door to find the others.

 

Antok, Thace, and Ulaz were all crowded around the sad excuse for a coffee machine while Shiro was across the room with Keith - who was in fact, having a conversation with a doctor. If the hand that Shiro had on his shoulder was any indication, then the conversation wasn’t going too smoothly. Thankfully, Shiro had looked over as soon he had walked into the room, and squeezed Keith’s shoulder to grab his attention.

 

Keith glared at the doctor, then addressed Kolivan without looking away. “How’s Lance? This dipshit claims he can’t tell me anything.” 

 

Shiro sighed, long and drawn out, and tightened his hold on Keith’s shoulder.

 

“He’s good -- well, as good as he can be, I guess.” Kolivan turned to address the doctor. “We all -” he gestured to the other five “- need to go back to speak with Lance. I hope that’s not a problem?”

 

The doctor nodded, a little shaken up by whatever it was that Keith had been saying to him. He cleared his throat, “Only for a few minutes though. We can’t have him getting too excited and exacerbating any of his injuries.”

 

Kolivan nodded. “Of course, We’ll be in and out before you know it. Thanks.”

 

He gestured for everyone else to follow him back down the hallway towards Lance’s room.

 

Keith eyed the doctor one last time before following along, then eventually moving ahead and barreling into Lance’s room with a decided lack of grace.

 

“Lance! You okay?” 

 

Lance blinked, then snickered which turned into more coughing, but he nodded, and Keith slumped a little. 

 

“Jesus, Lance, you look like shit.” Keith half turned at the gasp Shiro made, as the group came in behind him. “What? He does! I know it, you know it, he knows it. The only one that doesn’t know it is that jackass doctor.” 

 

Lance snickered again, before looking over all the new people. He cleared his throat before he spoke, “I’m gonna assume two of you are the ‘fish guys’?”

 

Antok laughed and pointed between Thace and Ulaz, “Yeah, those two are the ‘fish guys.’” He walked over towards Lance’s bed. “I’m Antok, by the way - wish we’d be meeting under different circumstances. I’m just glad you’re alright.” He looked over all the bandages that covered Lance. “Well… mostly alright.”

 

“Antok!” 

 

He received a light punch on the shoulder from Keith as he turned to face Ulaz. “Ouch! What?”

 

Ulaz sighed. “Really?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do you really think that’s the most appropriate thing to say?”

 

“Oh c’mon. Lance thought it was funny! Right?” He turned to look at Lance, who only smiled and nodded. “See?”

 

“Whatever.” Thace stepped forward. “If we’re done with all your goofing off -- ”

 

“Hey! I wasn’t goofing off! It’s called lightening the mood.” He crossed his arms. “Don’t be such a stick in the mud.”

 

“Anyway - as I was saying, Ulaz and I had some questions about what happened if you wouldn’t mind answering them?”

 

Lance held up his hand and looked at Keith. “Red?  Blue?” 

 

Keith’s head snapped over to look at Lance, the glare he had been sending to the firemen fading. “Red’s fine, pissed off about not being at home, but she’s just fine… Thank you for that.” Keith held out his hand and knocked it lightly into Lance’s unbandaged one. “Shiro knows more about Blue than I do, I was pretty worried about Red.” 

 

Shiro stepped forward, putting one hand on Keith’s shoulder, and smiled down at Lance. “Blue has to stay at the vet for a while. She inhaled a lot of smoke, and had some pretty bad burns, but she’ll be okay, Lance. Kolivan found her in time.” 

 

Lance sighed, and relaxed a bit more into the bed, weakly smiling up at Kolivan, who had again settled in the chair near his bed. “Thank you….” He coughed a few more times, and made a face, before waving at Thace. 

 

“Okay, so with your throat still sore from the smoke inhalation, it might actually be better if you were able to just write down everything that happened after you returned home from work.” He pulled a piece of paper from the manila folder that he had been carrying. “On this sheet, there’s just some basic questions about your apartment itself, and some questions about your personal information.” He placed the paper onto the tray next to Lance’s bed. “I’ll just leave this here for you to fill out.” Thace turned to Ulaz and Antok. “Maybe it would be best if the three of us were to leave; Kolivan can take care of it from here.”

 

They both nodded, and Ulaz put his hand on Thace’s shoulder to lean around to talk to talk to Lance. He smiled, “It really was nice meeting you. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of you soon enough though.” He turned to Kolivan, “I’m sure we can assume you’ll bring that to us as soon as you’re finished?” Ulaz gestured to the paper.

 

“Of course.” He smiled, “I’ll see you all tomorrow morning at the station, then?”

 

They all nodded. Thace spoke up, “Actually, it’ll be easier for us just to come back here. I’m sure you’re not going to want to head home anyway.”

 

Antok nodded, “Yeah that sounds easier for us all. Oh!” He looked over to Kolivan, “I’ll stop by your place and take care of Blade for you tonight, okay? Don’t worry about it, I’ve got it all under control.”

 

Kolivan nodded, grateful. “Thanks, man.” He stood up to see them out into the hallway but turned to Lance first, “I’ll be right back, okay? I’ll give you a few minutes with your friends.”

 

Keith rolled his eyes. “Your fireman is okay, but the rest are kinda jerks.” 

 

“Keith! How can you say that when you literally told Lance he looked like shit, to his face?” Shiro shifted, mouth slightly open. 

 

“Shiro, I’m allowed to insult Lance. He is allowed to insult me, that’s just how we work.” Keith spoke like he was talking to a small child not a grown adult. 

 

Lance snickered, the sound almost normal, before he grinned, and hissed. “Mullet loves me.” 

 

“I hate you so much.” 

 

Shiro sighed. “I’m never going to understand the way you two work.”

 

Keith looked almost proud but Lance’s face fell as he looked over the two of them. Keith’s hair was only partially held in the tie now, and both of them had soot all over their clothes. Shiro even had some on his face. 

 

“Sorry…” 

 

Keith looked confused and glanced up at Shiro, then back at Lance. “Sorry? For what?” 

 

“Date… was ruined… ”

 

Shiro’s expression softened. “Oh, Lance. Don’t worry about that. Keith and I will hopefully have lots of dates in the future.” 

 

Keith sputtered, face red as he buried it into his hands. “I hate you both, so much!”

 

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Kolivan peeked his head through, “Mind if I join you all again?”

 

Lance nodded, “Please.”

 

Kolivan smiled. “As long as I’m not interrupting anything.” He looked between Keith and Lance. “I did have a thought while I was out in the hallway though. I don’t wish to pry, but I was wondering where the two of you had planned to stay?” He looked over at Lance. “It’s safe to say that you’re going to be in the hospital for tonight at least, but - have you given any thought as to where you and Keith might go?”

 

Lance frowned and he shook his head a few times, but Shiro spoke up.

 

“I managed to convince Keith to stay with me tonight. It’s not good to make any kind of decisions like that after something so traumatic. I’m sure it will be easier for Lance to talk more tomorrow as well.” 

 

Lance shook his head again, and reached out, poking Keith in just the right spot to make him jump and drop his hands with a scowl. 

 

“What?” 

 

“Go.”

 

“Fuck that! I’m not just gonna leave you here!” Keith straightened, looking fierce. 

 

“Go. Take care of Red. Check on Blue.” Lance matched Keith’s scowl, aware of Shiro and Kolivan both staring at them. He coughed a couple more times, and made a grabby hand motion for the little trash can. 

 

Kolivan handed it to him and Lance pulled off the little mask and spat something black into it, before handing the can back and putting the mask back on. “Please?”

 

Keith looked torn, glancing from Lance to Shiro to Kolivan and back.

 

Kolivan cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t mind staying here with Lance.” He looked at Keith. “You’ve must be exhausted from all your worrying. It’s not a big deal, and plus - Antok already said that he’d stop by my apartment to take care of Blade so it’s not like I can’t stay.” He gestured to Keith, “Go ahead. It’ll be fine - I promise.”

 

Lance nodded, and pointed at Keith, then Shiro, then at the door. “Pet Red for me.”

 

Keith cleared his throat and nodded tightly before stepping away a bit. 

 

“Don’t worry, Lance. I’ll make sure they’re both alright. We’ll go out early tomorrow and get you both a few things before we come in the morning. I don’t think you want to wear that gown everywhere no matter how much Kolivan would enjoy the view.” 

 

Lance choked, and Keith laughed, while Shiro just looked overly pleased with himself, smirking at Kolivan. 

 

Kolivan blushed and put his head in his hands.

 

Shiro chuckled. “Okay, on that note, we’re gonna get going. Lance - have Kolivan call or text us if you need anything, alright? I don’t care how late it might be - we’ll both be back here as quick as possible, okay?”

 

Lance stared at Shiro with wide eyes, then they narrowed. “Okay… but don’t take advantage of Keith.” He smirked as Keith cursed Lance to hell and dragged Shiro out of the room. 

 

Lance smiled, then sighed, looking a little upset.

 

“What’s the matter?”

 

Lance frowned. “You didn’t even change… You can go home. I’m okay.” He smiled, and took a deep breath, before he coughed. 

 

Kolivan looked down at his dirty uniform. “Oh - I honestly forgot about that.” He chuckled, “It’s fine, really; It wouldn’t be the first - and definitely not the last - time that I’ll be sleeping in this.” He leaned over to fluff one of Lance’s pillows. “Why don’t you try to get some rest now? I would hate for you to injure yourself any further -- ”

 

Lance tried to talk but Kolivan cut him off.

 

“Please,” he pleaded. “I’ll be here when you wake up, I promise. So… try to get some sleep. For me?”

 

Lance looked skeptical but eventually nodded, turning just a bit so his burned cheek wasn’t touching the pillow at all before he closed his eyes, his unbandaged hand curling lightly around one of Kolivan’s. 

 

***

 

Kolivan jolted awake. He didn’t remember falling asleep in the chair next to Lance’s bed, but if the cramp in his neck was any indication, then he had. He looked around the room - not having known what hat woken him - until he saw the doctor standing at the foot of bed reading Lance’s medical chart. 

 

The doctor, a different one from last night, smiled at Kolivan. He nodded towards Lance, who was still asleep, “He’s gonna be a little out of it for awhile; we had to up his morphine - we don’t want him pulling any muscles or exacerbating his other injuries by coughing. He should be alright in a few hours though. So, nothing to worry about.” 

 

Kolivan nodded as the doctor replaced the chart into the sleeve hanging off the edge of the bed. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to see if he had any missed messages or calls as the door swung shut behind the doctor. He’s had a missed message from Antok - he had called him an hour ago to tell him that he was gonna be on his way to the hospital after he stopped at Kolivan’s apartment to check on Blade again and grab some clothes. A quick look at the clock showed that Antok was due to arrive soon, so Kolivan stood to stretch his legs. With a quick look to a still sleeping Lance, Kolivan quietly slipped out of the room to grab a quick cup of coffee and to use the restroom at the end of the hall.

 

He had only been gone for a few minutes and when he returned, he stopped outside the door to listen to the muffled voices coming from inside. He pushed the door open to find Antok sitting in the chair he had vacated and he was quietly laughing at something that Lance had said.

 

Kolivan sighed as he stepped through the door. “I hope you didn’t wake him?” He looked to Lance. “The doctor that was just in here said that you would be out for a little while longer.”

 

Lance’s eyes were slightly glassy, but he was smiling as he turned to look up at Kolivan. “Koli! ‘Ntok said ya were ‘ere!” 

 

Kolivan chuckled; he wasn’t too certain anymore that Lance was actually awake if his slurred speech was anything to go by. 

 

Antok laughed and gestured to the duffel bag by his feet. “Here - got you some clothes so you can finally change out of all that.” He waved his hand in front of his nose. “Please go change. You smell like a bonfire. Yuck.”

 

Kolivan sighed. He gestured to Lance, “Can you keep him company for a few minutes while I go get changed?”

 

“Of course! I’m not going anywhere, anytime soon.” He gestured to Lance. “This guy’s hilarious.” He chuckled.

 

Lance pouted when Kolivan said he was leaving but perked up a bit when Antok said he was staying. “I like you.” He patted in Antok’s direction, “Yer cool. But Koli’s m’ favorite.” 

 

He shushed Antok when he started chuckling again. “Shh! He’s not supp’d to know! He’ll go away if he does. Shh!” Then Lance giggled. “It’s kinda funny… ‘Kay, you can laugh.” 

 

Kolivan blushed as Antok doubled over in laughter. “Oh my God! This is priceless - damn! I wish I had recorded that.” He waved in Kolivan’s general direction with looking over, “Go, go. Go get changed. Unless you wanna hear any more of Lance’s secrets? Hmm?”

 

Kolivan grumbled, his face still red. He grabbed the duffle bag from next to Antok’s feet with perhaps a little more force than necessary. “Just don’t try to take advantage of him, alright? No blackmail; got it?” He pointed a finger at Antok. “He doesn’t have any idea what he’s saying now, so lay off.”

 

“Damn, buddy. No need to be such a killjoy.”

 

“Antok - I mean it.”

 

“Alright, alright. I got it - no blackmail. Sheesh. Now go get changed.”

 

“Fine. I’ll be right back alright?” Kolivan looked towards Lance, “Don’t forget you need to take it easy, alright? Don’t go laughing too hard or you’ll throw yourself into a coughing fit.”

 

Lance nodded until the door closed then he looked at Antok. “Did you know I can cough? I didn’t know that…” His tone was serious before he giggled again. “Hey, hey ‘Ntok… d’ya think.. The fish guys are comin’ too?

 

Antok chuckled and patted Lance’s uninjured hand. “I’m sure ‘the fish guys’ will visit later on.” 

 

“Good. Cuz, I wanna cuddle and they won’t let me. Tease too much.” He nodded again then coughed a few times.

 

“Oh?” Antok had a look of mock surprise on his face. “And who is it that you want to cuddle?”

 

Lance looked at him with an oddly blank face. “Koli. Who else would I cuddle?”

 

“Just double checking.” He winked, “We wouldn’t want you to cuddle with anyone else now, would we?”

 

Lance opened his mouth, but the door opened to reveal a freshly changed Kolivan. 

 

Antok groaned. “Oh come on, it was just getting good again… ”

 

Kolivan raised his eyebrow but said nothing, as Lance motioned for him to come closer to his bed.

 

“Koli! Hey, guess what! Guess! ‘Ntok said we can cuddle!” 

 

“Oh. Did he now?” Kolivan glanced at Antok, who just raised his hands in surrender.

 

Lance nodded, looking pleased. “Yup. Said he don’t want me to cuddle ‘nyone else.” 

 

Kolivan’s face was red again under Antok’s watchful eye, but he didn’t want to deny Lance, who patted the bed next to him; he even scooted over to make as much room as possible for Kolivan in the tiny bed.

 

With a sigh, he slid in next to Lance, only really being able to place half his body in the bed - his one leg was still rested on the floor.

 

Lance grinned then burrowed into Kolivan’s side with far more speed than he should have. He sighed happily then tucked his face a bit closer and closed his eyes. 

 

Kolivan’s blush bloomed an even brighter red across his face as he heard Antok chuckle. He looked over to him, “Not. A. Word. I swear.”

 

With Lance now sound asleep again, Kolivan let himself relax in the bed a little. He looked over at Antok when he cleared his throat.

 

“So… ”

 

“So, what?”

 

“Seriously, Kolivan? This is a pretty intense crush, huh?

 

Kolivan turned his head to look down at Lance. “ …yeah, I guess it is.”

 

Antok nodded. “He’d be good for you, ya know?”

 

“Antok -- ” 

 

“No,” he cut Kolivan off. “I really don’t want to hear any more of your self-sacrificing bullshit.” Antok shifted in his chair. “Look at him. Do you seriously think if he didn’t have feelings for you that he would’ve stuck around? I mean -- C’mon! You’ve been pining over him ever since you met him. And -- ” He paused. “Don’t think that we haven’t been talking to Shiro either.”

 

Kolivan was silent as Antok continued.

 

“Shiro’s told us how much  _ he’s, _ ” he gestured to Lance. “How much he’s been pining over you. Just -- Kolivan, please! Don’t let someone as good as Lance could be for you, just slip away because you’re too afraid of the commitment or, or -- or whatever it is that you are so afraid of.”

 

Kolivan sighed. Antok was right, and he knew it.  _ It didn’t stop this from seeming all so terrifying though _ , he thought to himself.  _ I already almost lost Lance once; I can’t lose him again. _ He looked to Antok. “You’re right.”

 

“What?”

 

“You heard me the first time - You. Are. Right. I almost lost him once, I don’t think I could bear to lose him twice.” He tightened his hold on Lance. “I just -- I don’t know what to do now - where to go from here… ”

 

Antok sat up straighter. “Well… ” He started, “You’ve got quite the amount of PTO saved up, not to mention administrative leave days, so… ”

 

“So?”

 

“So, Lance is gonna need someone to look after him while he recovers; and, if I can remember correctly, then his roommate - Keith - is going to stay with Shiro for a while.” He shrugged. “He doesn’t really have anywhere to go; maybe he could stay with you?”

 

Kolivan looked at Antok and sighed. “Why are you full of such helpful advice today?”

 

Antok shrugged, “I don’t know, man, but hey! I solved all your problems for you in the span of five minutes. Not too bad if I do say so myself.”

 

“Yeah, yeah.” Kolivan chuckled; he looked down at Lance who had snuggled even closer to him during their conversation but - had thankfully - stayed asleep. “I’ll have to ask him if he’d be alright with that once he wakes up… ” He looked at Antok again and raised an eyebrow, “Shouldn’t you be getting to work soon?”

Antok stood. “Yeah, I can tell when I’ve overstayed my welcome. Let me just grab this -- ” He reached for the form that Thace had left the night before - Kolivan had helped Lance to fill it out before he had fallen asleep last night. “- and I’ll be out of your hair.” He nodded at Kolivan, “I’m guessing you’re gonna use one of your days off to stay here?”

 

Kolivan nodded, “Yeah.”

 

“Alright; I’m sure Thace and Ulaz will stop by sometime today so I’ll be off. Give you two some time alone.”

 

“ …Thanks.”

 

“Don’t worry about it.” Antok shouldered the door open. “Good luck with this - you deserve it.”

 

Kolivan smiled as Antok turned to let the door shut behind him.     

 

***

 

It had taken quite a bit of convincing on his part, but when Lance had been released from the hospital two days later, he found himself  in Kolivan’s truck and on his way to his apartment - where he’d be staying for at least a week while he fully recovered. Kolivan wanted to take him there first, in order to allow him to get settled in, and he had promised to take Lance to the vet to visit Blue - who, also had the possibility of getting released today.

 

Lance was very nervous about staying with Kolivan. But, everyone kept saying that someone had to keep an eye on him and with Keith staying at Shiro’s that really only left Kolivan. It was strange though, because he hadn’t noticed so many soft smiles before, and despite both Kolivan and Antok insisting they had talked, Lance only remembered meeting the man the night of the fire. 

 

He looked across the truck cab and asked again. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

 

“I’m sure,” Kolivan could see Lance wringing his hands out of the corner of his eye. “Is everything alright? You’re not in any kind of pain, are you?”

 

“No. But, the doc said I probably wouldn’t feel anything for at least an hour.” He turned to face the window. He leaned his head against the glass, then straightened. “So… how far out are you?”

 

Kolivan looked ahead the road as the light turned green, “Not too much farther, only about ten more minutes.” He looked at Lance out of the corner of his eye again, “Let me know if anything starts to hurt, alright? I can always get you some more medicine or a hot water bottle - whatever you need. I want to make sure you’re comfortable.”  

 

“I know… But, I don’t want to make you do any more than you already have. I mean… You’ve done so much already!”

 

Kolivan waved him off. “No. I really haven’t. I just want you to feel at-home while you’re recovering, and Lance? Trust me, if I didn’t want to help you this way. Then I wouldn’t have even offered.”

 

Lance frowned then raised his head, a smile starting to grow. “Okay, but then you have to let me cook for you after my arm is healed, Okay? As a thanks.” He felt a little better about it if he could repay Kolivan. Lance could straighten things, cook, probably even run errands. 

 

“It’s really not necessary,” He could see the look on Lance’s face, “But if it would make you feel better than you can cook as much as you want, okay? I don’t want you to feel obligated to do anything - I don’t want you to overexert yourself too soon.”

 

“It’ll be fine. See, I can play with Blade, and make sure you have food ready when you get back from work. Since I won’t be at the hospital anymore, you’ll be going back to work, right?” Lance relaxed a little, idly playing with the edge of the shirt Shiro had dropped off for him. 

 

Kolivan shrugged. “Actually, I took the next two weeks off - I had so much PTO saved up so I figured I’d use it. It’ll be nice little vacation for me too, besides,” he smiled a little. “I figured we’d… maybe be able to get to know each other a little better; since we never did seem to get that date,” he chuckled.

 

Lance’s mouth fell open and he spun a little too fast to face Kolivan, wincing a bit when he pulled his burned shoulder. “Oh… ” He face was a little red and Lance honestly wasn't sure of it was because of the burns or because of Kolivan. He was betting on Kolivan though. “I… um…  Thought you forgot… ”

 

“How could I possibly forget about that? I was - and still am - very much looking forward to it, whenever we get the chance to.”

 

“O - oh, you probably mentioned it but I forgot. Sorry about that… ” Lance rubbed against his jaw. “I mean, even if all we did was walk around a block I’d be happy with it…” 

 

“Don’t worry about it, you’ve been through a lot the past few days. Anyway -- ” He pulled the truck into the parking lot. “We’re here. We can always worry about that later on.” Kolivan put the truck in park and leaned back to grab Lance’s bag from the back seat. “Just wait there for a second, I’ll come around to open your door - I don’t want you to strain your shoulder.” 

 

Kolivan walked around to the passenger side, and helped Lance get out of the truck. He was lucky that his parking space was close to his apartment so that Lance wouldn’t have to walk far. They were both quiet - lost in their thoughts - as they made the short walk to Kolivan’s apartment. They stood at the door as Kolivan fumbled with his keys, suddenly nervous for Lance to see his apartment. He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, “It’s - uh, not much but I hope you’ll like it.” He smiled sheepishly at Lance as he unlocked the door and ushered him inside.

 

Lance was appalled at how tired he already was and blamed the damned drugs the doctor had insisted he take for a couple more days. He smiled as he stepped through the door though, “It’s perfect, I don’t know what you were worried about.”

 

Kolivan stepped through the threshold just as Blade skidded around the corner meowing. As Kolivan bent over to pet him, he turned his head towards Lance. “No need for the flattery, I know it’s not much… but, if you would want - I’d like for it to feel like home for you for as long as you would like.” Kolivan stood up, he had picked Blade up - who continued to purr and butt his head against the underside of Kolivan’s chin; he chuckled. “C’mon, now. Stop that - I’ll feed you in just a minute. We’ve gotta get our company all settled in first.”

 

Lance shook his head. “No no. Go take care of him. I bet he missed you a lot. I’ll just sit down for a bit, okay?” His smile was lopsided, and he leaned just a bit more on Kolivan’s arm before shuffling over the couch. 

 

Kolivan watched Lance shuffle over to the couch and gingerly set himself down on it. He turned to the kitchen to grab food for Blade - he quickly gave him a scoop of dry kibble and refilled his water dish. When he was satisfied that Blade had been taken care of, he turned towards the fridge and grabbed two bottles of water, and made his way back into the living room where Lance was still sitting. His head was leaning against the back of the couch, eyes closed. One hand was curled the in folds of the too big shirt Shiro had brought him while the other was laying beside him, bandages stark against Kolivan’s old couch. One shoe was off, and it looked like the laces had gotten tangled in his attempt to remove the other one. 

 

He walked over and placed the water bottles down onto the table next to the couch.  _ That pain medications no joke _ , he thought to himself. Being as quiet as possible, Kolivan leaned over and scooped Lance up in his arms. He had never really considered the size difference between the two of them; Lance was just so small,  _ no - not small - delicate _ . Lance was just so delicate compared to him. 

 

“Mm… Koli…” Lance curled a little, nuzzling into Kolivan’s neck. 

 

Kolivan smiled and held onto Lance a little tighter as he started to walk towards his bedroom. He gently placed Lance on the bed. He turned to leave and that quickly, Blade had run through the open door and had jumped up onto the bed; he curled himself up into a ball and started to purr. 

 

When Lance blinked awake, his first thought was that he was starving, he absently, raised his hand to pet the little ball of warmth curled near his hip and hissed as the burn on his hand touched Blade’s soft fur. He slowly moved, looking around the unfamiliar room, before he blushed, realizing that he had to be in Kolivan’s room.

 

Faster than was likely wise, Lance shifted up, and out of the room, down the little hallway and finally back into the living room. The place was dark, and Lance honestly couldn’t see much, but the large shape contorted to fit onto the couch couldn’t be anyone else but Kolivan. 

 

Lance’s heart melted and he wished his phone had survived the fire just so he could take a picture of it. Quietly, he padded back to the bedroom and carefully dug around until he found a blanket, moving back to cover Kolivan before going back to bed. He could always eat later, and then lecture the poor man for sleeping on the couch he barely fit on. 

 

***

 

Kolivan jolted awake at the sound of someone knocking on the door. He walked over and looked through the peephole to see Thace and Ulaz standing out in the hallway. He unlocked the door and opened it. “Well, this is a pleasant surprise.”

 

Ulaz chuckled. “It wouldn’t be such a such a surprise if you actually paid attention to your phone every once in awhile.”

 

“Sorry, I was a little busy with Lance.”

 

“Oh?” Thace looked around. “Where is he then?”

 

Kolivan gestured to the short hallway, “He’s in bed; that pain medication really knocked him out almost as soon as we got back here.” He turned to shut the door as they all walked further into his apartment. Kolivan walked them closer to the kitchen. “Should I put on a pot of coffee?”

 

Ulaz smiled, “That sounds good. I’m sure we’ve all had rough nights.”

 

Thace snorted. “Talk about an understatement,” he turned to Ulaz, “You had us working all night trying to piece together any kind of information about the fire.”

 

Kolivan went to grab them all mugs after turning on the coffee maker; he turned around and almost collided with Lance. “Oh! I didn’t see you there. I hope we didn’t wake you?”

 

Lance didn’t even blink, only took one of the mugs and stared at the coffee machine like that would make it work faster, once there was enough ready to fill his mug, he took the pot, poured it into the mug, put the pot back and downed the entire mug before finally turning to face the others. “Morning…”

 

Ulaz chuckled. “It’s still only mid-afternoon - not morning, but hello to you to.”

 

Lance yawned, wincing when he pulled his cheek. “It’s morning until I’ve had at least three cups of coffee.” He rubbed one of his eyes and finally seemed to wake up a bit. “Oh… S-sorry.” 

 

Kolivan reached out to grab Lance’s mug. “Maybe you should only have the one cup for now, we wouldn’t want you to be bouncing off the walls later on tonight.”

 

Lance, honest to god whined, then glared at all three of them. “Fine. whatever.” He wandered a bit away, before disappearing from the room.

 

“I see someone’s a little antisocial.” Thace mused.

 

“Just leave him be, I’m sure the medications probably making him a little disgruntled.” Ulaz nudged Thace’s shoulder; he turned to Kolivan. “We’ll get going then. We only really wanted to check in after you hadn’t answered any of our texts.” He motioned to where Lance disappeared to. “Go take care of him; we’ll let ourselves out.”

 

“Thanks for stopping by, guys. Yeah, let me go check on him.” Kolivan pointed to the coffee pot, on the way out of the kitchen, “there’s travel mugs up in the cabinet if you wanna take yours to go.”

 

Kolivan found him curled up in a ball on the couch, Blade spread out on the cushion next to him. “Hey, I’m sorry about the whole ‘coffee thing’ just now but I don’t want you to irritate your throat.”

 

Lance looked up from where he had been stroking Blade’s fur. “It’s fine - although I feel like I should be apologizing to you instead - for my behavior just now. I shouldn’t have just walked away like that - it was rude of me.”

 

“It’s fine, honestly.” Kolivan watched as Lance continued to stroke Blade’s fur, when he had an idea. “How about I go get you the phone so that you can call the vet? I know that you had wanted to go visit her but you slept a bit longer than we had anticipated, and I’m not sure that we’d be able to make it to the vet in time before they closed for the evening.”

 

“Yeah… I guess.” Lance sighed.

 

“I’m sorry,” Kolivan patted him on the knee as he walked past to grab the phone. “I know how much that you had wanted to see her.” Just as Kolivan handed him the phone, there was a knock on the door. Kolivan groaned, “now who is this?” 

 

Lance grabbed the phone and put it on the end table to follow after Kolivan. 

 

Kolivan opened the door, “Antok?”

 

“Hey, man!” He shouldered his way past Kolivan and made his way towards the kitchen. “Oooh, is that coffee, I smell?”

 

“Yes, it is…” Kolivan shut the door. “Is there any particular reason that you’re here? Or is this just a social visit?” Kolivan turned the corner into the kitchen to find Antok and Lance standing there drinking coffee.

 

Kolivan chuckled, “So much for that whole ‘coffee thing’ earlier.”

 

Lance shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

 

Antok placed his cup into the sink after he had drained it and handed Kolivan some paperwork.

“What’s this?”

 

Antok shrugged, “Don’t know - but I found them on your desk when I was at the station. Figured you’d want them.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

“No problem.” Antok looked at his watch. “Ah - shit. I’ve gotta go - I left Brynn with a neighbor and I don’t wanna leave her there too long.”

 

“It’s fine, go ahead.” He walked back over to the door with Antok. “And thanks for bringing me those files.”

 

Antok waved his hand around, “don’t worry about it. I’ll text you tomorrow to see how Lance is doing, okay?”

 

“Yeah, sounds good.”

 

After finally feeling like himself for the first time in days, he went to apologize again to Kolivan for being such a mess. He had just shut the front door when Lance wandered over, fiddling with his hands. He opened his mouth to apologize but Kolivan cut him off.

 

“I’m so sorry but I need to go check over that paperwork real quick; will you be okay by yourself for a few minutes?”

 

Lance nodded, “yeah, sure. Go do what you need to do. I’ll be fine.”

 

Kolivan smiled, “thanks. I shouldn’t be too long.”

 

With that, Kolivan turned and walked back into the kitchen. Lance stood there, not knowing what to do until he remembered Kolivan’s suggestion - that instead of actually going to visit Blue as they had planned to do the day before, that Lance simply call the vet to check in on her. So, Lance had wandered back into the living room to make the call; he wanted to give Kolivan some time to himself to look over his paperwork without any interruptions.

 

The call went well, or as well as it could go - the vet had explained that despite Blue being able to breathe much easier, he still wished to keep her for at least another day to make sure that there wouldn’t be anymore complications. It was good news overall, but he couldn’t help himself from worrying and it was the thought that something could still go wrong with his sweet girl that had caused Lance to hunt down Kolivan; he found him in the kitchen, still going over the papers Antok had left. 

 

“Ummm… Kolivan?” 

 

“Yeah?” He put the papers down that he had been rifling through, “Is something the matter?”

 

Lance rubbed his good hand up and down over the bandages covering his right arm and shifted from foot to foot. “Okay so… I know that I’m all over the place… and that’s probably really annoying, but… Can I ask you for a favor? Please?” 

 

“Of course, you can ask for whatever you want and Lance, how many times do I have to tell you that you’re not being annoying in the least.”

 

“I know, but still…” He shifted again, then scooted closer, ducking his head a little, all the while mumbling about what the vet had said, and how he was worried and could he just have a hug, for a minute…  Maybe?

 

Kolivan turned towards him and opened his arms. “C’mere.”

 

Lance shifted closer, tucking his head into Kolivan’s chest. “I’m sorry.” His voice was muffled. “I’m a jerk before coffee, and I can’t stay quiet and I know you're busy.. But I’m worried about Blue…” 

 

He rubbed his hand up and down Lance’s back. “Hey now, none of that apologizing; it’s completely unnecessary. And you’ve got every right to be worried about Blue but, I promise you - that the the vet is going to take good care of her and she’ll pull through this. You’ll see; she’s a strong girl. Now, c’mon - you’ve gotta be hungry by now, huh?”

 

Lance shook his head, arms curling a little tighter. “In a minute.” He stayed that way for easily three more before finally pulling away. His mouth was pressed tightly together, before he caught Kolivan’s hand, tugging him down and pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. “I’ll make you lunch.” He stated quietly before turning to face the fridge. 

 

Kolivan grabbed his hand, “there’s no need for that, I can make us lunch - it’s not a big deal.” He shooed Lance out of the kitchen. “Why don’t you go rest for a little while? I think I’ve got some of Blade’s toys in there somewhere, if you wanted to do that.”

 

“I’d… like to help, if you wouldn’t mind.” Lance shuffled his feet. “I know I’ve only been here for a few hours but I don’t want you to have to wait on me hand and foot…”

 

Kolivan watched shuffle his feet; he put a hand on his shoulder. “Lance, I don’t mind helping you, so please - there’s no need for to apologize anymore. I’m doing this because I genuinely want to. Okay, how about this - since you just got out of the hospital a few hours ago, why don’t you go in and play with Blade with a little bit, and I’ll bring us some dinner? Then tomorrow we can cook something together for dinner. How does that sound?

 

Lance smiled up at him, “Yeah, I’d like that.” He winked, “let’s make it a date.”

 

Kolivan laughed, “yeah, we’ll do that. Now go, shoo. Go play with Blade.”

 

“Sir, yes, sir.” Lance mock-saluted with his uninjured hand.

 

Kolivan chuckled as he watched him walk into the living and sort through the small amount of toys he had for Blade.

 

***

 

This was it. This was the day that Lance was finally going to be able to pay Kolivan back a little for all that he’d done for him so far. Thane… Thise? What’s-his-name… had called, and Kolivan had left, explaining that he was needed at the station. Which left Lance alone, with just Blade, and he fully planned to take advantage of it. 

 

The first thing he did was to start a stew, cutting potatoes, meat and adding gravy all into a crockpot, taking his time to dig around in Kolivan’s kitchen since, the man had barely let him help at all the last couple of days. Cooking was something that Lance had originally learned due to necessity, because Keith was a disaster in the kitchen for anything worse than popcorn, but now, it was something he enjoyed and he wanted… hoped… that Kolivan would enjoy it. 

 

Once Lance was satisfied that the food was set, he wouldn’t even have to touch it for hours, he cleaned up, making the bed, and turning it into a game with Blade, even wiping down some of the shelves and counters. 

 

Lance spent a good three hours running around cleaning what he could and doing his best to make sure that Kolivan wouldn’t need to do anything whenever he did finally get back from his day at work. Lance ended up settling down on the floor to play with Blade properly, and wasn’t even aware of when he fell asleep. 

 

It was quiet when Kolivan got home. The first thing that he noticed was that it was odd that Blade hadn’t run to the door meowing when he had opened the door; the second thing he noticed was the smell. It smelled amazing. He shut the door and peeked around into the kitchen - no sign of Lance, but it was obvious where the delicious smell was coming from; it looked like Lance had kept himself busy today - the crockpot that he never used himself was on the counter and he could see what looked like a stew cooking inside of it.  _ Hmmm…  _ Kolivan looked around. Now that he noticed, it looked like Lance had actually cleaned the kitchen as well.

 

He walked out of the kitchen with a small smile on his face. “Lance?” When he received no answer, Kolivan walked into the living room to find Lance curled up on the floor - a cat toy in his hand and Blade curled up next to him. Kolivan’s smile grew as he leaned over to gently shake Lance’s shoulder to wake him.

 

It took several tries before Lance blearily opened his eyes, and shut them again immediately, mumbling something softly. Slowly, his legs uncurled and he stretched before finally sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “What ‘ime is it?”

 

Kolivan chuckled. “It’s a little after 5.” He nodded towards the kitchen, “it certainly seems like you kept yourself busy today.”

 

Lance shook his head. “No… I was gonna do laundry too.” He plucked at his sleeve, not entirely awake yet. “I didn’t want you to have to do anything, but relax…”

 

“Lance… you’re a guest here, not a maid. Not that I don’t appreciate all the you’ve done - I do! I just -- you don’t have to do all of this, especially for me.” Kolivan smiled, “but… thank you for all of this. It really means alot to me.”

 

Lance yawned, his bandaged hand coming up automatically. “I know… but…” Lance shifted, head tilting to meet Kolivan’s gaze. “But, when was the last time someone took care of you? You’re taking care of me and… I want to do that too.” Abruptly Lance stood, “Besides, you can’t thank me yet. You haven’t eaten.”

 

“Well, if it tastes anything like the way it smells, then I’m sure it’ll be delicious.”

 

Lance flushed, then batted at Kolivan’s arm. “Stop that. Go on, see your cat, change, I’ll get it ready.” He hurried toward the kitchen.

 

“Alright, Let me just feed Blade then I’ll be out of your way.” Kolivan bent over to scoop up Blade, and took him in the kitchen to feed him. He nodded to Lance, “I won’t be too long - I’m just gonna grab a quick shower and get changed, then I’ll be right back out.”

 

By the time that Kolivan had finished his shower and stepped out into the hallway, the apartment had smelled even more mouth-watering than it had when he went into the bathroom. He let his nose guide him back into the kitchen. “It smells amazing in here Lance.”

 

Lance chuckled, softly. “Glad you think so… Keith can’t cook to save his life. Honestly it’s the only thing I’ve ever been better than him at. But, one of us had to learn or we would have starved years ago.” His smile was soft and fond. “Do you cook much?” 

 

He finished placing one last ladle full into a bowl and carried it over, setting it and a spoon down in front of Kolivan. 

 

“I don’t usually have the time to cook much, not here at least.” He joked, “as if you couldn’t tell by all the dust that had accumulated on that crockpot.”

 

Lance leveled a look at Kolivan. “Keith literally did not even own a plate when we moved in. At least you have things to cook with.” Lance shifted a bit, holding his own bowl close. “Are you… gonna try it?” 

 

Kolivan lifted the spoon to his mouth, and moaned as the flavors melted against his tongue. “Oh my God, Lance. This is amazing.”

 

Lance blushed, face turned a bit away. “I mean… thank you, but I know that it’s pretty simple… but.. I thought…” Lance finally settled in a chair. “You could take the rest to work if you have to go in…” 

 

“Who says there’s gonna be any leftovers?” Kolivan chuckled. “I might just eat it all tonight.”

 

Lance pulled his own bowl a bit closer, before smiling teasingly. “Well.. I just thought… you could tease your friends with a special home cooked lunch… but if you wanna go and be all kind about it.” He stuck his own bite in his mouth. 

 

He smiled at Lance, “All teasing aside though, thank you for this. I honestly can’t remember the last time that I came home from work to a home-cooked meal and a clean apartment.” Kolivan reached across the table to put his hand on Lance’s uninjured arm; he squeezed it gently. “This was really sweet of you, thank you for this, Lance.”

 

Lance shook his head. “No. Letting me stay was really nice of you. I mean, I know that you kinda had to, but it was still really nice. A meal is the least I could do. Besides, Blade had fun making the bed earlier.” 

 

“What do you mean, ‘kinda had to?’ Lance, no one forced me to help you - I offered.”

 

Lance ducked his head. “Oh… I thought… that Shiro asked you to…” His bandaged hand came up and froze, before he dropped it again and rubbed his neck with his left hand instead. “Sorry.” 

 

“No, I actually brought it up with Keith and Shiro - the doctor had thought that it would benefit you to be with someone who had some basic medical training and Shiro had volunteered at first, but I offered instead. And hey, no more apologizing, it’s not necessary. I’m really enjoying having you here.” Kolivan gestured around him, “this apartment hasn’t felt this lived in - or clean - in years.”

 

“I like it here…” Lance stated softly, almost shyly. “It’s bigger than the one I shared with Keith, but… It’s like… I’m comfortable here… does that make sense?” 

 

“It does - it makes a lot of sense.”

 

Lance stared into his bowl for a minute before he raised his head with a wicked grin. “Well, then, you better get to eating because I’m not giving you any of the dessert unless you finish.” He winked, before going back to his own meal.

 

Kolivan perked up, “Dessert?” He looked around, trying to find it, “I didn’t see any dessert earlier…” 

 

Lance grinned. “That’s because I hid it.” He sounded smug and very pleased. “Besides, it’s nothing special. Just, something I thought you might like. I’m not like, great at baking.” He shrugged. “But what’s a dinner without dessert?” 

 

“I’m sure it’s going to be just as delicious as this dinner was.”

 

Lance flushed again, but didn’t speak until he finished eating, moving slowly to the sink to clean his bowl, and unwrapping his hand from the bandages. He then opened the fridge and came back to the table looking sternly at Kolivan’s bowl before setting another down in front of him. 

 

The bowl had a pale pudding at the bottom, with some kind of cracker lining the bowl, while the top was littered with cherries, but Lance didn’t say anything as he sat back down, just watched Kolivan closely. 

 

Kolivan looked down at the bowl. “Oh, wow. I haven’t had one of these in years.” He took a big spoonful, careful to get a bite of everything at once. “It’s just as good as I remember!”

 

Lance laughed, “I can’t actually make a real cheesecake so, please don’t ever get your hopes up for one. I follow all the directions, but they still explode in the fridge…” 

 

“This is perfect as is,” Kolivan laughed, “You’re always more than welcome to try again while you’re here.” He winked, “as long as you clean out the fridge after it explodes.”

 

Lance’s eyes widened and he shook his head several times. “No! No way, never ever again!” He pointed at Kolivan with his spoon. “If you want a real cheesecake you can go buy one like everyone else.” He scooped the last bite and stood, moving back toward the sink.

 

Kolivan cleared his throat, “Well… maybe we can go get some cheesecake together sometime…”

 

Lance froze, before looking over his shoulder. “Cheesecake and coffee maybe…?” He poked at the burn on his hand a bit. “L - like a date?” 

 

“Yeah - exactly like a date. We can do whatever you want.”

 

“I’d… really like that… You know… I was so worried that you weren’t going to text me back that I just threw my phone in my room that night because I didn’t want to look at it every five minutes.” He raised a hand to cover his eyes. “I am such a dork.”

 

“Trust me, you’re no more a dork than I am. I must’ve written and rewritten dozens of texts to you but all I ended up doing was embarrassing myself so, I deleted them all. I do wish that I had sent you at least one of them, I’m sorry for making you worry that I wasn’t interested. It’s just that -- people don’t usually flirt with me, so it kinda threw me for a loop.” Kolivan shrugged. “I had been out of the dating game for so long that I figured that there was no way that someone like you could  _ possibly _ be interested in someone like myself.”

 

“What?!” Lance spun, almost slipping before he caught the edge of the counter. “What? Dude, you have to be blind! I mean…  _ Look _ at you! You’re handsome, and strong and you care so much! You spend every day ready to save someone’s life! How could anyone  _ not _ want you?”

 

Lance took two steps forward and was off, hands moving as he talked, face bright. “I’ve seen you with Blade and you love him more than anything! I’ve also seen you with your team and even when they tease you, I know you’d do anything for them! You’re kind to everyone you ever talk to, and.. And.. You slept on that tiny couch, even though I would have fit much better on it just so I’d be comfortable. You’re like.. Unreal! Who even does all that?”

 

He froze, and clapped his hands over his mouth, the sound sharp in the quiet of the room. His eyes were wide over his hands and he shifted like he was going to run. 

 

Kolivan blushed. “Well, I’m glad you think so highly of me,” he chuckled. “But - in all seriousness, Lance, I’m nowhere near as great as you’re making me out to be. Yeah… I might ‘spend everyday ready to save someone’ but most of the time, I never really have the time to do anything  _ but _ work, and people tend to get tired of a significant other who never can seem to make extra time to do things together.” He shrugged, “It’s not ideal but, I’ve gotten used to being alone, I guess. I just find it hard to believe sometimes that people,” he looked at Lance, “ _ you _ , included, would want to spend any time at all with me.”

 

Lance shook his head. “People are…” He stopped, then started over. “It’s not the amount of time you spend with someone, it’s what you do with it. I’m a little too loud and annoying for people to spend much time with myself. Everyone has flaws. Yours are just smaller than you think they are.” He dropped his hands, and took a deep breath. “I like you, Kolivan. I’d be an idiot not to take what time I could.”

 

Kolivan blushed and ducked his head. “The feelings mutual - I like you too. Alot. I just don’t want to disappoint you because of my work schedule or --” He stopped. “You saw what happened with me forgetting to text you. I’d hate for that to happen again. You mean a lot to me and I would hate for you to ever feel like you didn’t.”

 

“Actually….” Lance shifted a bit. “Antok told me he’d make sure you remembered to tell me things…” His face was bright red, but he was smiling. “I don’t know if he really meant it… but.. You won’t forget me, now… I hope.”

 

“Trust me - there’s no way that I’d be able to forget you now.” Kolivan smiled, face equally as red as Lance’s.

 

Blade meowed then, batting at Kolivan’s leg, then meowed again, making Lance laugh. 

 

“Looks like I took too much of your time. I’ll go.. Put that ointment on the burns…” He ducked down the hallway. 

 

Kolivan followed after him and knocked on the door. “Why don’t you let me help you with that? C’mon --” He gestured out into the hallway. “I’ll help you put that ointment on and then how about we watch a movie together?”

  
  


Lance’s head popped back out. “I love movies… But… I get… kinda weird when I watch them… Like… I yell at the people when they do dumb things, and I talk through them a lot. It’s kinda rude…” 

 

Kolivan shrugged. “That doesn’t sound weird to me - it sounds like fun if you ask me. Just think of it as a trial run for our actual date.”

 

Lance ducked his head. “I… um… Okay.” He looked up. “But… only if you have good movies…”

 

“I’ll just have to let you pick the movie then. I’m actually not sure what movies I have anymore; Antok’s always bringing movies over and leaving them here, so hopefully I’ve got at least  _ one _ that you’ll enjoy.”

 

Lance nodded. “Okay then… but, if I get too loud, you have to promise to tell me. I’m too used to watching them with Keith and he does the same thing.” Lance came out into the hall completely, and casually slipped his hand into Kolivan’s despite looking the other way. 

 

Kolivan blushed as he looked down at their entwined hands; he smiled as he squeezed Lance’s hand gently. “I promise.”

 

***

 

Lance was finally starting to feel like himself again. Most of his burns had faded to pale pink spots except for his shoulder and the one on the palm of his right hand. He was still worried about Blue, despite all of Kolivan’s reassurances. 

 

They had picked her up at the vet just this morning. She still couldn’t move very easily, and her burns were healing but very slowly. She had patches of missing fur and generally looked a fright, but Lance was more than happy to wait on her hand and foot. 

 

Shiro was supposed to bring Keith by soon, and Lance was anxious to start making some plans for the future. He’d honestly mooched off Kolivan long enough. He loved spending so much time with him, loved how cared for Kolivan made him feel, but Lance knew it couldn’t last. Kolivan would go back to work, and so would Lance. He’d find a place with Keith and they’d end up right back where they started, unable to even have a dinner. Lance shook his head. He wasn’t being fair, and he knew that. Maybe… He could bring Kolivan lunch? Was that even something that Kolivan would like? 

 

“Lance, we’re here!” Keith’s voice called out, and Lance slowly stood, careful not to jostle Blue from her little pillow. He double checked to make sure she was as comfortable as possible and turned to find Keith already waiting in the doorway. “Geez, man, I was coming.” 

 

“Like I’m here to see you.” Keith scoffed, and crossed the room, immediately kneeling down to check over Blue. “How is she?”

 

Lance swallowed, still so worried that he could lose her. “She has some bad burns, but she’s breathing a lot better. She looks a lot worse than it is apparently.” He still frowned, hands twitching at his sides. 

 

Keith fussed over Blue, and Lance let him. He would have done the same if it was Red, and Lance had never ever been more grateful that he was able to catch her when she bolted out the door. 

 

“Hey… I wanted to talk to you about something.” Keith’s voice was low, and Lance could just hear the muffled sounds of Kolivan and Shiro talking in the living room. Keith’s eyes were still fixed on Blue, as one finger carefully stroked the back of her head. 

 

Slowly, Lance knelt back down, his left hand absently poking at the burn on his right. “Okay…?”

 

“Well, I just wanted to say, that I’m really glad Blue is alright… And that you’re alright…” Keith glanced up and then back down. 

 

“Dude, just spit it out. You never dance around shit like this, and honestly it’s freaking me out.” Lance muttered, poking a bit harder at the burn. It stung now and gave Lance something else to focus on. 

 

“Yeah… Okay.” Keith rubbed one of Blue’s ears lightly, earning him a weak purr before he raised his head, locking eyes with Lance’s own wide ones. “So, I know we are supposed to talk about what we’re gonna do now, but… I…” He glanced toward the door then back to Lance. “I think, I’m going to stay with Shiro.” 

 

Lance felt his stomach drop, but he smiled because as much as he missed trash talking with Keith while their girls slept comfortably, he wanted Keith to be happy just a bit more. “Well, good for you, Mullet. I’m glad he’s treating you right. I’d hate to beg Kolivan to kick his ass for me since I’m not totally better yet.” 

 

“Like you could ever take Shiro out, Nerd.” Keith rolled his eyes, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. “It’s just.. It feels like home there, you know?” 

 

Oh, Lance had a feeling that he knew exactly what Keith was talking about. He thought about it too, how nice it was to look up and see Kolivan playing with Blade, or how warm Lance felt when he’d watch Kolivan moving Blue so gently. The soft look on his face, when Lance pressed a light kiss to his cheek. Lance cleared his throat and nodded. 

 

“Hey, if Shiro’s place feels like home to you, then that’s where you should be. Don’t even worry about it.”

 

Keith still frowned. “Lance…”

 

“Dude, don’t even. But if you think this means I’m not gonna show up and invade his house for Sunday movie nights, you are dead wrong! It’s a tradition, Keith! Tra-dit-ion.” 

 

A scoff. “Yeah, well we are gonna have to wait a couple of weeks, his movies all suck. I need some time to build the collection back.” Smile abruptly gone, Keith shifted. “What are you going to do?”

 

Lance laughed, “Oh, I’ve been thinking about it and I’ll be out looking for a new place as soon as the doc gives me the all clear.” He wiggled the fingers of his burned hand, grin fixed firmly on his face. “Now, the doc says I should be clear to work next week, so it’s not like I’ll never see you.” 

 

“Actually…” Keith rubbed the back of his neck, looking at anything but Lance. “I’m due to finish my security training soon, so… I kinda… Quit?” Keith winced at Lace’s dumbfounded look. “I’ve already got a new job lined up.”

 

Again, Lance felt like his whole world had tilted. But he worked his smile back onto his face, determined to support Keith like he always did. “Man… I just hope there aren’t a lot of people, because you suck with them.”

 

Keith scowled before a smile broke and he stood, chuckling. “I knew there wasn’t any reason to worry. Shiro said you might be upset about it, but I told him, you’re always fine.” He extended his hand, helping Lance up carefully. “But, as soon as you’re settled, and I’ve fixed Shiro’s movie issue, we’ll have our movie nights again. No Sunday dates, just us, right?” 

 

“Of course!” Lance knocked his good fist into Keith’s before he followed his friend out to join Kolivan and Shiro, pushing his worries aside for later. 

 

***

 

Shiro and Keith stayed for almost an hour before they left, Shiro claiming a headache from the bickering. Lance had rolled his eyes, and hugged them both, before insisting he had to check on Blue and letting Kolivan walk them down. 

 

Really, he just needed a little time alone to think everything over. So he settled on the floor next to the chair that Blue was laying in, Blade appearing to curl in his lap. One hand absently stroked the kitten while he rested his head next to his girl. 

 

“Man… I wasn’t expecting that you know? I mean, I knew Keith was going to quit eventually, but I didn’t think it’d be so soon, and I knew we wouldn’t live together forever. But, I never thought it would all happen at once. I thought.. I’d have some time, to save some more money, find a nice little place for just me and you, Blue. Maybe finally get that job at the animal shelter. But it doesn’t look like any of that is gonna happen now.” 

 

Blade butted his head into Lance land with a soft  _ ‘mrow’ _ and Lance sighed before rubbing one of the kitten’s ears. 

 

“Okay then, I need to stop screwing around and get my shit together huh? Kolivan’s not going to let me stay here forever. Haxus is already pissed I took so much time off, and with Keith gone, who knows when I’ll have the time to look for something better. Okay, apartment hunting first thing tomorrow. There’s gotta be a place close to the shop, so I can check on you during my break.” He gently ran his burned hand over Blue. “Then, I’ll just save as much as I can and hope something better comes along.” 

 

Blade wiggled free and darted out the door, but Lance barely paid him any attention. 

 

“Of course, I won’t get to see Kolivan much…” Lance sniffed at the thought. “But he said he works a lot anyway, so maybe that could be good? I mean, he won’t feel bad if I’m just as busy right, Blue?” 

 

She mewed softly at him, and he sniffed again, before straightening up and rubbing his face with his sleeve. “Yeah, I can do it. Just gotta go one day at a time.” 

 

Lance stood and headed for the bathroom, completely unaware that Kolivan was standing on the other side of the door, Blade held in his arms and a protective frown on his face. 

  
  


Kolivan ran his hand across his face, to say that he was nervous was an understatement; today was Lance’s last follow-up appointment at the hospital. He sat out in the waiting room bouncing his leg as he waited for Lance to come out of the office; he had gotten the last appointment of the day so Kolivan was alone with the receptionist behind the desk.

 

He smiled, as he thought back to the past few days spent together - they had really gotten closer to each other. Kolivan had noticed how Lance had still seemed a little depressed, so he had come up with a plan to hopefully cheer him up. He had planned a proper date for the two of them - with the help of Keith, of course - he wanted to wine and dine him, but it all hinged on Lance receiving a clean bill of health today. 

 

It had been almost entirely Keith’s idea for this date tonight; Kolivan smiled. He was excited for tonight; happy that he had called Keith for advice.

 

_ “Hello?” _

 

_ “Keith? Hi, it’s Kolivan.” _

 

_ “Oh! Hey, how’ve you and Lance been?” _

 

_ Kolivan paced back and forth in his kitchen. Lance had said that he was going to get a quick shower so Kolivan had run to grab the phone and dialed Shiro’s house number; grateful that Keith had answered on the first ring. “We’ve been good - but listen, I don’t have a whole lot of time right now because Lance is in the shower.” He groaned, “I want to take Lance out on that date that we never got the chance to go on, but I’ve got no idea what to do…”  _

 

_ Keith chuckled. “Okay, look - I’ll make this quick. Just do something simple. Lance is really sentimental, so anything - and I mean anything - “romantic” is gonna make him happy. How about this - that restaurant that Shiro had taken me to on our date?” _

 

_ “Yeah?” _

 

_ “Lance loves the garlic knots from there, so grab some food to go - maybe a bottle of wine - and go for a picnic or something. He’s real big into space too, so…” Keith paused while he thought. “…maybe something like stargazing or something?” _

 

_ “That’s perfect! Thank you so much, Keith!” Kolivan stuck his head out in the hallway to see if he could still hear the shower running - he could hear the pipes creak as the water shut off. “Ah! Sorry Keith, but I’ve gotta go!” _

 

_ “Yeah, fine.” Keith laughed. “Good luck and have fun on your date.” _

 

_ “Thanks, Keith. You’re a lifesaver.” _

 

_ He had just hung up the phone when Lance had appeared in the hallway, fully dressed, a cloud of steam pouring out of the bathroom behind him. Kolivan smiled as he watched Lance run a towel over his still damp hair. _

 

_ ‘I hope he’s gonna like what I’ve got planned for him.’ _

 

He was pulled from his thoughts as the door opened and Lance walked back into the waiting room; he smiled at Kolivan before he turned to talk to the receptionist. 

 

Kolivan stood as Lance finished up at the front desk. “Everything okay?”

 

Lance shrugged. “Yeah, I have to be a little careful with my hand still, but my shoulder is pretty much healed, so I’m clear to go back to work tomorrow. I’m sorry, but I’ll be pretty busy, once I’m back, but I promise I’ll start looking for a place after my shifts, okay?” 

 

“That’s great. I’m glad that you’re feeling better.”  Kolivan followed Lance out into the parking lot, he pulled the door open for him. He walked around to the driver’s side, and started the car. “I know you said that you’re going to be busy but… I wanted to show you something?”

 

Lance nodded, smiling when Kolivan opened the door for him. It was such a sweet thing to do and something only Kolivan had ever done for him. Stars above, Lance was really hopeless for this one. “I can’t do anything tonight, so sure, show me whatever you want.” He froze then, and backpedaled quickly. “I-I didn’t mean it that way!!!”

 

Kolivan chuckled. “It’s fine, I know that you didn’t mean it that way.” He put the car in gear and drove out onto the road -- in the opposite direction of his apartment. He turned down another road, and drove for a few miles before he pulled up to the curb in front of a park that he had found not too long ago. “The cats should be fine for a few hours on their own so I thought that maybe we could… go for a walk? And enjoy the weather?” Kolivan rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly nervous that this hadn’t been a good idea. “I - uh, I picked up some food at that Italian restaurant that you liked, and thought -- you know what? I’m sorry, this is silly isn’t it?”

 

Lance reached up and pulled Kolivan’s hand away from his neck, threading their fingers together. “It’s not silly. I love it. It’s sweet, and I’d love to walk with you.” He squeezed lightly, before smiling up at Kolivan again. “Lead the way.” 

 

Kolivan blushed, he squeezed Lance’s hand again before he had to let go to grab the picnic basket that he had shoved into the backseat. Having grabbed the basket, Kolivan walked around to Lance’s door and opened it for him before he had a chance to do so himself. He grabbed Lance’s hand again and lead him down the path that was in front of them; after a few minutes, it opened onto an open field. Thanks to the season, the moon had already started its ascent into the sky. The night was cloudless and promised a good view of the stars. 

 

Kolivan lead them over to a flat area and put the picnic basket down on the ground between them. He quickly pulled out a blanket and spread it out on the ground. After he gestured for Lance to sit, he started to pull out the food that Keith had suggested; he also pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses. He poured a glass for Lance and passed it to him. “I hope this is alright? Keith mentioned that you liked wine so…”

 

Lance who had started the walk alright, was stammering, and very red faced. He held the glass carefully, before blinking up at Kolivan with slightly damp eyes. “This is… amazing. I mean.. I’m still going to kill Keith for telling you all my secrets but… I can’t really be too mad.. This is.. Just too much. I’ve never had a date like this before…”

 

He chuckled,“try not to hurt Keith too much.” He smiled. “I’m just glad you’re enjoying yourself… even if we aren’t really doing anything. I just --” Kolivan wrung his hands together. “I really enjoy spending time with you, Lance.”

 

Lance flushed, thankful for the darkness and the low light. “Aimless dates are always the best kind. The ones where you don’t really do anything kinda mean the most…” He reached out, and squeezed Kolivan’s hand before leaning back. “Besides, I like spending time with you, too. This is just… Amazing.” 

 

Kolivan moved closer on the blanket to Lance and nudged his leg. “Can I… ask you something?”

 

Lance sipped at the wine, before looking over at Kolivan. “Of course. What did you want to know?” He shifted, resting on his good arm and keeping his right hand in his lap.

 

Kolivan sighed. “I… uh, heard you the other day -- when you were talking to Blue.” He put his hands up in a mock-surrender. “Before you get mad - I’m sorry. I didn’t plan to eavesdrop, but… I did. Lance, I’ve really enjoyed having you here with me, and I’m sorry again if this is too fast or too… forward of me but -- I don’t want you to go. If you’d want - I’d love for you to stay with me…” He trailed off, too nervous to look Lance in the eye.

 

“I… I…” Lance had no words. He stared, mouth slightly open, torn somewhere between mortified and euphoric. He was embarrassed that Kolivan had actually heard all his whining to Blue the other day, but at the same time, he wanted to jump on the offer, to be there when Kolivan came home, to smile, greet him with a kiss. But… 

 

“You… I…” Okay, good try, but how about actual words this time. “You… want me to… Stay…  with you? But… what about… That… whole…” He waved his right hand around and then looked at it like it offended him. “But.. what about.. Us not having any time?” All he needed now to look like an even bigger idiot was Keith’s hairstyle. 

 

“I…” Kolivan still couldn’t look up past his lap. “I’ll make time; I know it wouldn’t always be perfect but… I’d like to try - to see what it could be.” He sighed. “I already almost lost you twice - by not having the courage and to text you, and the night that your apartment caught fire - and I don’t want to lose you again.” Kolivan sucked in a breath and finally raised his head to look at Lance. “I couldn’t bear to lose you. I can understand if you wouldn’t want to though…”

 

Lance sucked in a sharp breath when Kolivan raised his head. Kolivan was usually a little hard for Lance to read, but not at that moment. Right then, in the low light of the park lamp, and the moon, Kolivan’s face was easy to read. Hope and fear, but full of honest determination. He really did want Lance to stay. Lance smiled, soft and a little shy.

 

“I…” He cleared his throat and started over. “I… would love to stay with you and Blade… I feel… at home there… with you. I just… didn’t know you felt the same. I mean… I knew you liked me, you’ve made that clear… I just didn’t realize, you liked me enough to let me be part of your home.” 

 

“Lance - my apartment hadn’t felt like a home for a long time, not until you came to stay with me.” Kolivan leaned over to entangle their fingers together; he squeezed again. “I couldn’t be more grateful for everyone pushing me to get a pet. And I couldn’t be more grateful for you for putting up with all of my ‘mishaps.’” He chuckled. “Even after all of that you trusted me enough to let me adopt Blade. That little kitten means the world to me now, and… so do you.”

 

Lance sniffed, looking down at their hands. “I just.. You’re sure? I mean.. Blue is gonna need a lot of looking after, and I.. I’m going to have to work a lot.. Since Keith quit and..” Lance swallowed roughly around the lump in his throat. “I don’t.. Want to be the reason your friends tease you…”

 

“Lance - I couldn’t be more sure of anything else right now.” He rubbed his fingers across the back of Lance’s knuckles, and continued. “I know that Blue is going to need quite a bit of looking after and I want to be there for you through it all. The whole work thing? I work a lot too, don’t forget. Sure, it’ll take some getting used at first - what, with our different schedules, and all - but I know that we can do this if we put our minds… and hearts to it.” Kolivan waved the hand that wasn’t curled around Lance’s. “ - And my friends? Their teasing it what pushed me to come to your pet store that day, and look what came of it. They can tease me all they want now, I couldn’t care less.”

 

He blinked, and as Kolivan’s face blurred, Lance launched himself at Kolivan, looping one arm around his neck and pressing a kiss just to the side of Kolivan’s mouth. He shifted and pressed another to his cheek, then one to his nose. He left a smattering of kisses all over Kolivan’s face before pulling back just enough to rasp out a “yes” before finally kissing him properly, uncaring that he was settled haphazardly in Kolivan’s lap. 

 

He doesn’t know how long they sat there, curled around each other and stealing kisses. The moon had shone high in the night sky for awhile now, and the stars had come out in the full force - twinkling bright above them. Kolivan had been content to sit there all night if Lance wanted too. He placed his chin next to Lance’s neck and felt the shiver run through him; Kolivan pulled his jacket tighter around the both of them. He chuckled as Lance yawned, and  pressed a sleepy kiss to the side of Kolivan’s neck. 

 

He looked down at the boy in his arms -- in his lap, and couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. “Hey.”

 

Lance wormed a little closer. “Hmm?”

 

“We’ve had a long day, how about we pack this up and head home? You’re shivering.”

 

Lance shook his head a little. “Home… with my girl… and your boy… and…” He paused, then buried his face a little tighter into Kolivan’s neck, his words a little muffled, “and my Koli…”

 

“Koli?” He chuckled. “I think I like the sound of that… C’mon,” he pulled Lance to his feet and pressed a kiss on his lips. “Let’s go home -- our home.”


End file.
